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Markets + Trends
| News for Process Automation 1/2016
Weighing Over 300 Kilos
and Always Hungry
Every year, poachers in South Africa kill hundreds of
rhinos to sell their horns for money. The young ones
are often left helpless. Pepperl+Fuchs has now adopted
an orphan baby and given “Oz” a new home.
An orphaned baby rhino from Kruger National Park has now found a new
home thanks to Pepperl+Fuchs. The company adopted the young
male rhino, gave their protégé the name of the magician Oz – Hebrew
for force – and put him in the care of a wildlife reserve. His “adoption
contract” has already been signed, and Oz has settled in well. The
one year-old “baby” already weighs over 300 kilos, and guzzles up
to 16 liters of milk a day – after the experience in the park, he needed
additional nourishment. When Oz is an adult in two years and strong
enough, he will be released back into the wild.
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They have inhabited the earth for almost 50 million years. Other animals
rarely bother them – hardly surprising, considering they weigh up to
1.5 tons and measure up to four meters in length. We are talking about
rhinos, which, despite their size, are threatened with extinction. This is
because these enormous leaf and grass eaters have a ruthless enemy
against which they are defenseless: Illegal hunters who have their
sights on the horns.
In Asia, the rhino horn is seen as a means of salvation – reason enough
for poachers to hunt the animals. They shoot the rhinos or tear their
horns from their flesh while alive, leave the rhinos to bleed to death,
and turn the horn into powder. This they then smuggle to China and
Vietnam via an illegal network of traffickers. This is a major problem in
South Africa, which is home to around three-quarters of the world’s
rhinos. The young are often left alone, hungry, and disoriented.
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