Twenty days ago, I received a message from Kenya saying: “We regret to inform you that your little Naomi put herself in grave danger and was severely injured. However, doctors saved her life, and she is now recovering. She is undergoing a period of convalescence, rehabilitation, and training so she does not expose herself to danger again. We will keep you updated on her progress as it happens.”
The Incident: I felt deeply anxious about little one. At night, nightmares crept into my sleep; I saw a leopard trying to prey on her. I would wake up at the moment I saw the leopard baring its terrifying fangs. Curiously, when I looked into the details of what had actually happened to Naomi, I found my fears were not unfounded.
They told me that, in her innocence, she used to approach lions and leopards whenever she saw them, as if she wanted to befriend them. The last time, she got much closer than she should have. A leopard pounced and was on the verge of killing her, if not for the alertness of the forest rangers and their intervention to drive the leopard away and save her at the last moment.
Naomi: Naomi is a young female rhinoceros who has endured a poignant tragedy. Poachers killed her mother, leaving her an orphan. The Wildlife Conservation Organization took her in and added her to its program to protect African rhinos from extinction. This global program was established after environmentalists noticed that rhino populations in Kenya were plummeting—from 20,000 in 1970 to just 350 by 1983.
The Wildlife Conservation Organization: They established a system to protect the remaining animals from poachers’ rifles and the claws and fangs of predators. Because this system was incredibly expensive, they came up with the idea of offering the surviving animals for “adoption” in exchange for a nominal fee of just one pound per month. In return, the organization keeps the contributor informed about the progress and protection of the animal they chose.
Naomi, Poachers, and I: I chose Naomi because she was the youngest and sweetest, and because she was an orphan. I was also deeply resentful of the crimes poachers commit against rhinos. Driven by greed and superstition, poachers have slaughtered these animals excessively, killing these massive creatures just to obtain their horns. A single horn is sold for an exorbitant price to traditional medicine shops in Thailand and Hong Kong.
The Rhino and Superstitions: There, the horn is ground into a powder, and small amounts are sold at high prices to those who believe the powder grants them the strength and health of the massive animal. It is a chain of greedy individuals who bypass the laws prohibiting poaching. The victim is always the rhino, which conservationists are desperately trying to save from extinction.
Naomi’s Growth: I would be overcome with warm feelings with every letter that arrived from Kenya, bringing me the latest news on Naomi. In the beginning, they told me she was bottle-fed, just like human infants. Then she grew up and began eating grass on her own and swimming in the river on hot days. Later, they noticed she was curious; she would sneak away from the eyes of the forest rangers and veterinarians to watch other animals at the edge of the reserve. They were worried about her because she had no mother to teach her how to be wary of predators.
Life Goes On: Finally, she nearly died in the jaws of a leopard; she had approached it thinking it was merely a large, colorful, and cute creature. Naomi survived by a miracle. She is growing up now, and perhaps soon she will become a mother herself, giving birth to a beautiful little rhino that she can nurture and teach how to survive in the wild. Perhaps then, she will never have to face a treacherous bullet of a greedy poacher, as her mother did.