Rhinos relocated by zoo after accidental zebra death
A WHITE rhinoceros has been moved to her own enclosure at Dublin Zoo after killing a zebra.
Eight-year-old rhinoceros Zanta and the other rhinos are now segregated from animals at the new savannah enclosure following the incident.
It happened a week before the new exhibit was officially opened by President Mary McAleese.
The April 2 incident was sparked by a pair of mischievous zebras who playfully nipped at Zanta's rear end.
The rhino chased after the culprits but another zebra, called Killarney, happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught in the rumpus, said assistant zoo director Paul O'Donoghue.
"The rhino didn't mean to kill the zebra; our staff witnessed what happened," he said.
"Zanta chased two zebras which had annoyed her by biting her rear end and accidentally hit Killarney during the chase. The zebras ran into an indoor shelter. We assumed that she wasn't seriously injured but she died a short time later."
The impact of the collision was enough to send Killarney several centimetres into the air and would have been akin to being struck by a speeding lorry, he added.
To make matters worse, she wasn't even one of the instigators, he said.
"She had nothing to do with it. She was running to get back to the group of zebras when their paths literally crossed," he told the Irish Independent.
"It's bad enough when an animal dies but especially when she was totally innocent," he added.
But zebras can also be a bit mischievous, he added.
The rhinos will be temporarily kept in their own fenced-off area in the enclosure before allowing them to mix again with the general savannah population.
"It's just a question of mixing them again but doing it very slowly," said Mr O'Donoghue. "But there are no guarantees when you're dealing with wild animals."
- Allison Bray
