African Orphans Set Example

She is dark, and he is white, but that matters far less than it used to in South Africa. The two are orphans, which is sadly quite common on the continent these days. And they are best friends, which matters more than anything else. The cure to the headlines of the day is the relationship between Clover, the rhinoceros, and Bok-Bok, the goat.

Reuters reported on the unlikely pairing yesterday of an 11-month old white (sometimes called “square-lipped”) rhino named Clover and a goat at the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve just north and west of Johannesburg.

Fran Berkowitz, one of the handlers at the reserve, said, "One would never have thought that a rhino and a goat would get on very well. We were all shocked. It's amazing that two different species can get on so well." . It isn’t quite a case of the lion lying down with the lamb as they are both herbivores, but it isn’t all that common either.

It seems that the two go everywhere together, and Bok-Bok gets very upset when Clover is taken for a walk alone. Bok-Bok was abandoned, and Clover’s mom was the victim poachers. Rhinos are used in many Asian traditional medicines, and their horn is greatly prized. So, no one has to ask what the families think of their relationship.

Since Clover is going to tip the scales at 4,000 pounds some day, Bok-Bok will have say good-bye some day. The rhino will be let loose on the 3,500 acre reserve and visits may be rare if they occur at all. But, the handlers are sure that Bok-Bok will adjust, and another orphaned rhino may be substituted before long.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s security forces killed as many as 1,000 unarmed demonstrators last week, 22 Iraqis were killed yesterday in that country’s unacknowledged civil war, and there seems to be no end to the Darfur mess in Sudan. Just who are the animals?


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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