2 Rare Rhinos’ Secret Deaths in China Raise Concerns

When the San Diego Zoological Society last summer arranged to send two rare southern white rhinos from Pittsburgh to a zoo in China, the move was hailed as an example of international cooperation in the fight to save imperiled wildlife.

But now the Chinese have confirmed the embarrassing secret that they and San Diego Zoo officials have kept for five months: the two 4,000-pound animals died of dehydration and heatstroke while being trucked along the 1,650-mile route from Shanghai to Chengdu.

The deaths have left the Chinese scrambling to explain why they ignored the explicit instructions from San Diego Zoo officials about how to transport the big animals, which were destined for a breeding program.

And in San Diego, the zoo is at pains to be diplomatic, lest the incident damage the relationship between the zoological society and the ever-touchy Chinese bureaucracy, a relationship that culminated in a major coup in September for San Diego, the loan of two giant pandas.

“We’re very unhappy and very frustrated,” Tom Hanscom, a spokesman for the San Diego Zoological Society’s Wild Animal Park, said Monday. “But we’re not pointing any fingers because we’re not sure what occurred.”

Hanscom said that since the rhinos were the property of the Chinese, the zoo did not feel it appropriate to announce the deaths. He denied that the zoo withheld the news for fear of upsetting the panda loan.

Richard Farinato, the captive wildlife protection program director for the Humane Society of the United States, said the rhinos’ deaths call into question China’s commitment to and competency in preserving animals.

“Those of us in the zoo and conservation communities know that China is a real question mark when it comes to animals, whether it’s incidents like this, breeding bears for the medicinal market, or sending pandas out to zoos for rent,” he said.

In Chengdu, animal expert Song Yunfang told reporters that the rhinos could not be taken from Shanghai to Chengdu by rail--as the San Diegans had requested--because their van-sized crates were too big for rail cars.

The rail portion of the trip was to take no more than two days. But instead the rhinos were loaded in an open-top, non-air-conditioned truck for a weeklong trip in 99-degree heat. The rhinos died July 21, the fifth day.

“We were all very sad and sorry,” Song told Associated Press, noting that he thought that the rhinos could withstand the rigorous trip. The Chengdu zoo is arranging to have one of the rhinos stuffed as an attraction.

Farinato said that if the Chinese, or the San Diego Zoo, had assigned animal specialists to stay with the rhinos during the journey, they might have been saved.

“An animal that size shows definite signs of stress,” Farinato said. “They thrash, they vocalize, they drop excrement. Their tongues and eyes look abnormal.”

Both the San Diego and Pittsburgh zoos have unsuccessfully requested that the Chinese make available any necropsy reports or post-mortem reports.

The two rhinos--a male and a female--were born at an amusement park in New Jersey in 1975. They had the same father but different mothers. The species is native to southern Africa.

The two were sent to the Pittsburgh Zoo in 1977, but as half-siblings they were not considered compatible for breeding.

Also, because their father was a prodigious stud and many of the rhinos in America carry his bloodline, the two were considered “genetic surplus” for rhino breeding, said Lee Nesler, general curator at the Pittsburgh Zoo.

“We’re devastated,” Nesler said about their deaths.

The two animals, in keeping with a Pittsburgh Zoo policy, were never given names. They were a major attraction at the zoo.

Earlier this year, San Diego Zoo officials approached the Pittsburgh Zoo about the possible purchase of the two rhinos.

The Chinese had asked the San Diego Zoo for assistance in finding white rhinos for breeding. For several years, the San Diego and Chengdu zoos have cooperated on conservation issues.

In the captive breeding of rhinos, the San Diego Zoo is considered a leader, with 77 births attributed to San Diego rhinos.

The Wild Animal Park in the San Pasqual Valley north of San Diego is run by the San Diego Zoological Society, as is the San Diego Zoo.

Officials of the species survival plan organized by the American Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums asked San Diego not to ship any of its own rhinos to China because they were needed for breeding in North America.

With some reluctance, Pittsburgh officials agreed to part with the two white rhinos for $3,000. The San Diego Zoo also paid the $58,000 cost of transporting the rhinos by air from Pittsburgh to Shanghai.

San Diego Zoo officials had known of the deaths since being informed by the Chinese on July 22. The secrecy of the deaths was pierced Friday by Newsweek magazine.

The rhino species plan by the American Zoo and Aquarium Assn. includes guidelines about the size of shipping crates and when the animals should be accompanied.

Much depends on the animal’s age, temperament and health, the weather, and conditions of the move, said Michael Fouraker, collection director at the Fort Worth Zoo.

“Sometimes it’s appropriate to have them accompanied,” Fouraker said. “Sometimes not.”

Fouraker said that in recent years a dozen or so rhinos a year have been moved within North America without any deaths. Also, a dozen animals have been brought to Texas from Africa in the past decade.

Still, a rhino being moved from San Diego to Oregon in 1987 bled to death.

Experts believe that 7,500 southern white rhinos exist in the wild, which puts the species on a list of “threatened” animals.