San Diego Zoo Global officials said Monday they've received an international outpouring of sympathy since the weekend death of Nola, one of the last remaining northern white rhinos in the world.
"There are no words to adequately express the depth of the loss of Nola," said Randy Rieches, curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
"All of us at San Diego Zoo Global are grateful for the outpouring of condolences we have been receiving," Rieches said. "Nola was truly an amazing animal and her story resonated with people not only in San Diego, but globally."
He said it is a difficult time for staff, who worked with and cared for Nola for 26 years.
Nola struggled with a large infected abscess on her hip for months. Veterinarians at the Safari Park tried treating her with medication.
Eventually, there was an operation to drain the infection. That helped, but Nola never completely recovered. She was lethargic and stopped eating. Senior keeper Jane Kennedy talked about the animals failing health last Friday, just two days before the animal was euthanized.
"It's going to be a tough day when we lose her," Kennedy said as tears welled in her eyes. "But we'll do for her what we would want done for ourselves."
Nola was old, fragile and her body couldn't fight off the infection. Kennedy said the rhino would be around 100 years old if she was a human. That makes even small illnesses serious.
San Diego Zoo Safari Park staff were all aware how delicate the animal's condition was. In the weeks leading up to her death, there were many discussions about health, medical care and end-of-life decisions.
"When there's a decline, we would've had several discussions and meetings and we would all have been part of the process and it gives everyone a chance to say, she's having a really bad day today. Is that the day that we stop providing care, or is this just a short-term thing and can we get her through this?" said Nadine Lamberski, associate director of veterinary services. There were ongoing evaluations where vets, keepers and staff discussed the best course of action.
"We have to diagnose and treat a problem but we have to constantly remind ourselves to back up and look at the entire animal. And look at all the people around her and try to get them prepared for what they're going to see," Lamberski said.
The discussions ended on Sunday when the animal care team decided to euthanize the aging rhino after she took a significant turn for the worse.
Keeper Jane Kennedy has been bracing herself for Nola's passing for some time. The Safari Park's other northern white rhino died last December. She said that was tough. But that helped Kennedy be realistic about end of life care.
"My sister died in my arms when she was in a hospice plan," Kennedy said. "And so I know what it's like to lose somebody that you really love. And I really love Nola, and I love a lot of people, but I'm going to be really sad the day that we lose her because she is so special."
Only three living northern white rhinos survive in a wildlife preserve in Kenya. None of them are capable of reproducing, but Kennedy holds out hope that the northern whites are not doomed to extinction.
"If we can take her DNA and we can turn parts of it into her eggs. And then if we can take the DNA from a male and turn it into sperm and we can put them together and we can put them into a southern white rhino surrogate, we could bring back northern white rhinos. There could be little Nola's in our future," Kennedy said.
The effort to use science to revive the species is already underway.
San Diego Zoo Safari Park just welcomed six breeding age southern white rhinos from South Africa. Curator Steve Metzler said the herd is currently quarantined in a backstage area of the park.
"This big girl over here is one of our most calm," said curator Steven Metzler as he reached out to touch the massive animal. "And so she is a great example for everybody else. As she comes over and works with us everyone else is watching and seeing that we're good people."
Metzler spent several minutes scratching and stroking the rhino, then the animal wandered off to be with its small herd.
These imported animals are the linchpin of an ambitious and complicated plan to revive the northern whites.
Keepers will work with the rhinos until researchers can attempt to artificially implant southern white embryos. That's never been done with rhinos before and the process requires the development of tools and techniques.
"All of the scientists have a lot of work ahead of them to work out those techniques at the same time, or (the) team has a lot of work ahead of them to get these animals comfortable with everything they would be needing to do," Metzler said.
If keepers and technicians can deliver, researchers will try to implant a northern white embryo into one of these newly arrived females.
The team has access to frozen sperm from the male northern white that died last year and genetic material from 12 more animals. There are many scientific hurdles to climb, but scientists are optimistic it can be done.
Keeper Jane Kennedy is hopeful because of the hard work being put into repopulating the species.
"If we don't as a species, humans, do something about the extinction of the animals on our planet. No one will," Kennedy said. "They aren't going to come back unless we help them and I believe we owe it to some of these animals to do what we can to help them stay, stay on this planet. They deserve it, too."
Kennedy said Nola's lasting legacy may be her role as a catalyst for the effort to reproduce her species. There is some irony there because Nola never had offspring, even though she lived a long life.
