rje
kansas city mo
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Joined: 05/11/2007
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I have had one of the neatest experiences ever...a week ago Saturday at the Kansas City Zoo I loaded a female Rhino for a trip to the Portland Zoo.....well let me explain a little...being a crane operator and the company I work for agreed to load the the little lady who happened to weigh around 2800 pounds plus her 1200 pound traveling box or cage as you might call it on a flat bed single axle rental truck for the trip. Well the people from the Portland Zoo decided that they might run into bad weather in the mountains going across I 80 so they decided to take the southern route, well they ended up going all the way down on I 10 and across that way. The poor Rhino got sick outside of Phoenix and then ended up dying at the Zoo there. Wow what a shame considering she was black Rhino which are endangered and she was born here at the zoo. I asked the people transporting her if she could take the trip on a rental straight truck with single axle spring suspension must have been a rough ride for her, hope that wasn't what killed her or the extra hundreds of miles they were planning on driving. What a great loss for the people of Portland and especially all the kids who won't get to see her...very sad....rick
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rondynowincomfort
Lebanon, OR.
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Joined: 08/05/2004
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That is horrible. I wonder why the local stations haven't covered this story. They just about beat the momma elephant battering her baby when it was born to death. I got sick of hearing it.
How sad for the rhino. I'm sure they were doing what they thought was best, and were wrong.
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robatthelake
Vancouver Island
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Joined: 08/24/2003
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If Rhino's were meant to travel by Truck they would have Coil Springs on their Legs as well as shock absorbers! Everyone knows Rhinos travel better in the First Class seats of Airplanes! What were They Thinking!
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lesmore49
canada
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Joined: 11/25/2004
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Hope the Rhino didn't die because they decided to go cheap with an improper truck. Why not use a heavy duty stock trailer for such a valuable animal ?
lesmore49
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CatandJim
Tulsa, as in Oklahoma
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Joined: 08/23/2004
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How sad!
Cat
(Jim just reads the forum once in a while)
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mcgillagorilla
north pole ak
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Joined: 01/02/2004
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who ever rented the truck did not know what he was doing. they should of either rented a air ride trailer or truck or better yet contracted a company that moves livestock for a profession. a stock truck that size does not have the right kind of suspension to move a living animal safely. why do you think expensive electronics or other fragile loads of different kinds are shipped byspecialized carriers.
bob mcgill
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msmith1199
Central, CA
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Joined: 10/07/2001
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Sounds like a lot of problems with the way they transported this animal. They should have at least broken the trip down into smaller segments and found places to let her out for a few days at a time.
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rje
kansas city mo
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I'm going to try and post some pics as soon as the vet sends them to me...the ones when we were petting her and loading her. I guess as Rhinos goes she was pretty freindly, she would stick her nose and horns thru the fence and let you rub her nose and feed her sweet potatoes. Being born in captivity at the zoo must have made her a little more freindly than you would think.....rick
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SARGUY
North America
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Joined: 09/18/2008
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By coincidence I just recently watched a program on the National Geographic channel,apparently rhinos are ultra sensitive to changes in their enviornment.This is supposedly a well known problem that affects all rhinos,I am surprised that someone at one of the two zoos involved did not take the appropriate precautions, or at least hire someone who had some expertise in that area.
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