An Angry Rhino Bites An Elephant and Gets Outta Dodge

A group of conservationists got more than they bargained for whilst trying to transport a rare, one-horned rhino from one park to another.
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A relocated rhino charges a conservation team after release in Shuklaphanta National Park, Nepal on April 4, 2017.Prakash Methema / Getty Images

If you want to tick off a rhinoceros, try this: Drug the unsuspecting animal. Cram it into a truck, subject it to a 12-hour drive, and release it 400 miles away. Just don't be surprised when the 5,000-pound creature bites your elephant.

As absurd as this sounds, it is exactly what happened Tuesday when conservationists in Nepal released a rare one-horned rhino in Shuklaphanta National Park. The rhino stormed out of the truck, rammed it, and then barreled toward four elephants, surely startling the men riding them. AFP photographer Prakash Mathema watched the scene unfold from the relative safety of a wobbly wooden blind just a few feet away. “I think he was scared,” Mathema says of the rhino.

Everyone involved meant well. Conservationists hope to save Nepal's population of one-horned rhinos, which dwindled to just 65 in the late 1960s due to poaching. The Nepalese government launched an effort to save the noble creatures in the 1970s, and today 645 of them roam the country. Most live in Chitwan National Park 150 miles south of Kathmandu. From time to time, the government transfers rhinos from one location to another.

It did just that this week, moving five rhinos, including the grumpy guy shown above. A team of 70 conservationists led by the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation trekked into Chitwan on 30 elephants. After four hours, they spotted the 12-year-old male munching on grass at the western end of the park. They sedated it with a dart, a dozen men heaved it onto a palette, and a forklift loaded it on a truck for the long drive to Shuklaphanta.

After driving 50 miles into the forest, some particularly brave rangers opened the truck and goaded the rhino out by squirting it with water and banging on the walls. This in no way improved the animal's mood. It bolted from the truck, giving it a sharp jab with its horn, then charged headlong toward the elephants. It managed to bite one of the pachyderms before sprinting away in a cloud of leaves and dirt. "It all happened within five seconds," Mathema says.

Everyone clapped and cheered. A veterinarian examined the elephant and found nothing to worry about. As for the rhino, well, no one wanted to get close enough to find out.