After poaching attack, rhino named Hope gets facial reconstruction surgery
A South African white rhino who survived a gruesome attack by poachers last year has undergone facial reconstruction surgery to close a gaping wound.
Poachers had sedated the female rhino named Hope before hacking off her horns and parts of her skull in May 2015.
The reconstruction, performed May 3, involved technology used for human abdominal surgery to stretch the rhino's skin, according to the Independent, a South African news website. Wildlife vets then placed elastic bands across Hope's wound after the procedure that lasted more than an hour.
"They inserted pulley systems in Hope’s skin to 'crank the laces' to close the massive cavity on her face," the Independent reported. The procedure was initially developed for people who undergo stomach surgery, but doctors are unable to close the wound.
"We're confident in the way that it works with human skin, and hoping that the same reaction will happen with the rhino skin," Genna Woodrow, a manager with Southmedic, a Canadian firm that imported the elastymers for the procedure, told the Associated Press.
A non-profit organization that treats rhinos, Saving the Survivors, has been caring for Hope.
About a week after the surgery the group said on Facebook "it's a small miracle" that Hope has not tried to remove the dressings or threads. Hope has also regrown a small portion of her horn.
"The area where the partial horn is growing back is small (the size of a small fried egg) yet it is still miraculous. We are pretty confident in saying we doubt where the horn would grow back in other places (but this is Hope we are talking about) but let's see what happens," the group said on Facebook.
About 60% of Hope's face has already healed after five surgeries over the last year, Johan Marais, a wildlife vet and founder of the group, told the Independent.
Poachers killed at least 1,338 rhinos across Africa in 2015, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Since 2008, at nearly 6,000 African rhinos have been killed by poachers.
The number of white rhinos appear to have leveled off in Africa, with an estimated 19,700 to 21,000 existing last year, the nature group reported. The group lists the black rhino as critically endangered, with about 5,000 left.
About 85% of the poaching of Africa rhinos since 2008 occurred in South Africa, which also protects 79% of the animals, the group said.
Report: Rhino poaching crisis increasing in Africa
Rhino horn, which sells for $60,000 a pound, is considered more valuable by weight than gold, diamonds or cocaine, William Ripple, an Oregon State University ecology professor told the Washington Times in March.
Demand is particularly high in Southeast Asia for medicinal products, according to the World Wildlife Fund.