Long live white rhino
This is the story of Yster the white rhino. Yster in Afrikaans means iron, and anyone given this name is a fighter and a survivor. The name suits him perfectly.
Orphaned at age 3 1/2 weeks (poachers killed his mother for her tusk), little Yster was left for dead. He had stood by his mother’s side for four days when rescuers found his mother’s carcass and took him to an animal rehab center to be hand-raised.
Eventually Yster found his way to Legend Wildlife & Cultural Centre where Arrie continued to hand-feed 30 liters of milk to our white rhino friend. Each day. Thing is, you can’t just buy milk from the local grocery store to feed a rhino calf. Nope, Yster’s milk was a special blend mixed each day for him.
When we filmed him, Yster was 14 months old and doing great. He even had an older girlfriend who would help him remember how to be a wild rhino. The plan was to release him onto Entabeni Conservancy, a large wildlife reserve, once he reached sexual maturity so he could live life as wild rhinos should. Unfortunately we learned that Yster died a couple of months after we filmed him. RIP dear Yster. You are sorely missed.