By. Thilini
Jamie Traynor from The Rhino Orphanage got a message and she was asked to pick up a newly orphaned rhino. The baby rhino’s name was Jamila. Jamila is a small rhino baby and she was injured. In fact, she was attacked by a poacher with a machete while she was trying to protect her mom.
Staff usually put blindfolds and earplugs on newly orphaned rhino babies as it helps reduce their stress. “When we pick them up, they don’t know what’s happening, and they’ve lost their mum.”
And, more than anything, when a newly orphaned rhino is brought to the orphanage, Jamie needs to spend quite a lot of time with them so that she is able to gain their trust and get them to calm down despite everything.
And since Jamila was so small, she spent a lot of time with humans. So “Mewie” the cat who belonged to Jamie decided that he also wanted to get in on the rhino babysitting.
“If we were sleeping in a room, Mewie would sleep there. If we went on a walk, he would join us there.”
It was clear that Mewie was interested in Jamila. She was showing her attention, and she was always trying to be with her. Jamila also understood the cat’s attention and responded well to this. And that is how their friendship began to blossom.
“I think Jamila really like the company, they were very cute together. To see a cat and a rhino together, I nearly died.”
“Nandi wants to always lie on top of you. Whenever I come over, she will lie so strategically that her head lands on my lap, and she’s got a GIANT head, but it’s amazing,” says Jamie Traynor from The Rhino Orphanage.
“It’s the best thing to be a rhino’s pillow”
“They’re such special animals, the different personalities they have, they make you laugh all the time.”
Rhinos also come up to you and ask for belly rubs, just like dogs! “they’ll be standing, and then next thing, they’ll roll over,”