Photojournalist shares tragic story of rhino poaching incident in SA

A British documentary filmmaker and photojournalist recently shared a tragic story about a rhino cow and her calf who died during a poaching incident in South Africa earlier this year.

Ben Wallace was working closely with wildlife vets, particularly for his rhino photojournalism story, when the incident occurred. He is currently documenting the rhino crisis in South Africa.

According to Wallace’s Facebook post, which garnered more than 3000 shares, Wallace and veterinarians were called to a rhino who had been killed by poachers during the night.

“The vets performed an autopsy on her to find the bullet; a vital piece of evidence in the investigation. In this case the cow was shot badly by the poachers, she was hit in the stomach causing her to die a slow and extremely painful death during night.”

While he was taking photos and helping the vets cut through the rhino to search for the bullets, he heard them mention that the rhino cow was pregnant.

Also read: Kruger Park’s anti-poaching unit gets wings thanks to donations

“I ran to the back of the rhino just as they were slicing open the amniotic sack, exposing this foetus, which was close to being born. Conservation, particularly of rhino, is something I’ve been involved in for a long time. I’ve been to poaching incidents before, I’ve seen some gruesome things, but this is something that will haunt me for a very long time.”

Wallace attached a photo of himself and the baby rhino.

“His fragile skin was soft to the touch, and tore easily with the most gentle of brushes. His feet were underdeveloped, his lifeless eyes glazed behind the thick eyelashes that had started to grow. There in the grass he lay, next to his mother, who must have died slowly, agonizingly, and full of fear in the dark night. His opportunity to live torn away at the pull of a trigger, and at the greed of mankind.”

According to the post, Wallace will be revealing some of his work from this incident over the next few weeks. 

You can find Wallace on Instagram over here: @benswildlife 

Also read: Rhino poaching drop may mean we’re running out of rhinos

View this post on Instagram

It’s not very often that I post a photo of myself, but I thought I would share my experience at a rhino poaching incident I was working at in South Africa this year. I’ve been working closely with wildlife vets, particularly for my rhino photojournalism story. A few weeks ago we were called to a rhino who had been killed by poachers during the night. The vets performed an autopsy on her to find the bullet; a vital piece of evidence in the investigation. In this case the cow was shot badly by the poachers, she was hit in the stomach causing her to die a slow and extremely painful death during night. I was taking photos and helping the vets where I could as they cut through her to search for the bullets when I overheard one of the vets mention that she was pregnant. I ran to the back of the rhino just as they were slicing open the amniotic sack, exposing this foetus, which was close to being born. Conservation, particularly of rhino, is something I’ve been involved in for a long time. I’ve been to poaching incidents before, I’ve seen some gruesome things, but this is something that will haunt me for a very long time. His fragile skin was soft to the touch, and tore easily with the most gentle of brushes. His feet were underdeveloped, his lifeless eyes glazed behind the thick eyelashes that had started to grow. There in the grass he lay, next to his mother, who must have died slowly, agonisingly, and full of fear in the dark night. His opportunity to live torn away at the pull of a trigger, and at the greed of mankind. I’ll be revealing some of my work from this incident over the next few weeks. Photo credit: @lisa_vet_graham @benswildlife _______________________________________#rhino #wildlife #photo #rhinoceros #rhinosofinstagram #thehardtruth #southafrica #africa #nature #poaching #rhinopoaching #babyrhino

A post shared by Ben Wallace (@benswildlife) on Dec 20, 2018 at 8:56am PST