The Oah TEACH HEAL DISCOVER FALL/WINTER 2016 Tracking Down Oubreaks page 2 Teaming Up for Neko page 7 Turle Parnership Turns 20 page 9 Avian Fellowship Creaes Nes Egg page 10 Life-changing Impac Going Ino he Wild o Save Rhinos page 3
EXTRAORDINARY PURPOSE Ino he Wild College of Veerinary Medicine researchers hope o help sem he ide of rhino poaching deahs A few days before colleagues and close friends Anhony Blikslager and Mahew Gerard began research ha could save hundreds of hreaened rhinoceroses, Gerard saw one in he wild for he firs ime. The nex day, he saw one ha had been slaughered. In June, he was in he game reserves surrounding Kruger Naional Park in Souh Africa. To Gerard, an anaomy professor a he Norh Carolina Sae Universiy College of Veerinary Medicine (CVM), i was consanly rewarding, jus being here. He and wife Dr. Wendy Simpson, also a veerinarian, had never had a safari experience. Gerard saw he dead rhino on one of he safari drives. I was laying on is side under a ree, is eyes open, he fron porion of is face hacked off by poachers. Is ears and he back of is head were also missing. The wounds were fresh and raw. 3
The Perfec Team BY THE END OF 2015, THE NUMBER OF AFRICAN RHINOS KILLED BY POACHERS HAD INCREASED FOR THE SIXTH YEAR IN A ROW, WITH AT LEAST 1,338 RHINOS SLAUGHTERED. LAST YEAR, AN ESTIMATED 1,175 RHINOS WERE POACHED IN SOUTH AFRICA. Gerard and Blikslager had never sudied or worked wih rhinos before bu hey ended up uniquely suied o a ask almos wo years in he making: mapping he paranasal sinus anaomy of he whie rhinoceros, believed o be he firs projec of is kind. I s incomprehensible o me ha someone, anyone, could go in and desroy hese animals in he way ha i is happening. They planned he rip o visi Johan Marais, an equine and wildlife surgeon a he Universiy of Preoria who ~ Mahew Gerard is dedicaed o helping poached rhinos as par of he nonprofi Saving he Survivors, which he co-founded in 2012. Blikslager firs visied he universiy in 2014 o coninue a sudy on equine colic ha had sared a NC Sae. Soon, he conversaion urned o rhinos. He said, I m really ineresed in wildlife, paricularly rhinos and you probably don have any ineres in ha, says Blikslager, a professor of equine surgery and gasroenerology a he CVM. So I said, Why don you show me? Wha Marais showed Blikslager were he wounds he was lef o deal wih on poached rhinos his eam rescued. Bu Marais wasn exacly sure of wha he was looking a. I s incomprehensible o me ha someone, anyone, could go in and desroy hese animals in he way ha i is happening, Gerard says. I ll never undersand ha side of i. In a few days Gerard and Blikslager would be meeing in Ondersepoor, near Preoria, Souh Africa, o sudy hese majesic animals quickly vanishing from he Earh because someone desires heir horns. There was somehing specific ha needed o be done o help hese animals. I was somehing hey could do. Currenly, we are losing more han 1,000 rhinos a year, and nobody knows how o rea hese rhinos or knows he anaomy, says Marais. Blikslager conneced Marais wih Gerard, an equine surgeon now focused on eaching anaomy. They communicaed wih Marais over Skype for 18 monhs before he June visi. They go o work righ away on he rip sponsored by NC Sae. Over four days hey faced he massive head of a cadaver rhino, dissecing, documening and discussing he anaomy. When a rhino s horns are hacked away eiher by machee or axe or hand saw he paranasal sinuses are always 4
exposed. Unil Blikslager and Gerard s research, no one had any idea wha caviies hey were looking a and how hey were inerrelaed. Wha was needed was an accurae descripion of he rauma he sinuses susain during horn removal, where he accumulaed fluid drains o he nasal caviy and where, perhaps, surgeons could creae new holes o help faciliae sinus drainage of blood or oher fluid during long-erm reamen. There are some sources ha sugges ha by 2024... here won be any more rhino lef in he wild. ~ Mahew Gerard The numbers in he wild are diminishing so quickly ha here has o be effors o keep alive any and all rhinos lef, says Gerard. A he Ondersepoor Veerinary Academic Hospial, hey meiculously used a bandsaw o secion he head and see he lengh and breadh of he sinuses, and used a blue dye o deermine pahways beween he spaces. We hough i would be really imporan o find ou where he sinus space opens, says Blikslager. And we were rying o ask quesions like, Do you ever see a problem wih he sinus filling and no being able o drain? Gerard and Blikslager passed an endoscope hrough he nasal passage and ino he newly discovered sinuses o confirm where hey drained. They deermined ha reamen can include opening up areas of he sinus wall o reesablish drainage for an infeced sinus. Lierally, before we sared looking a his cadaver ogeher, Dr. Marais didn know here was his hole coming ou of ha sinus space. None of us knew ha, says Gerard. You could almos see a sense of relief in his face when we showed him he opening because he suddenly fel like, OK, a leas I now know i s his big space ha ges filled up wih blood bu has a way o drain. Marais agrees ha Blikslager and Gerard s research is already having an effec on how his eam reas injured rhinos. Jus by ouching he area where he horn was hacked off, he rhino would reac violenly, says Marias. So by using he CT sofware and working ou where he infraorbial nerve exiss, we go landmarks on he live animal. We hen sared blocking his nerve before working on he animals. I urned ou o be very effecive. My only complain, adds Marais, was ha Ma and Anhony were no here long enough. Blikslager and Gerard s lives have inerwined for more han wo decades a NC Sae. Gerard arrived as a residen in equine surgery in 1994, he year Blikslager compleed his surgery residency. Gerard says ha from he day he sared a he CVM, Blikslager has been a valued menor. This recen rip was wo old maes geing a bi of ime away, says Gerard. I was also so much more, of course. According o Saving he Survivors, 1,338 rhinos were When a rhino horn ges removed, a large secion of heir face ges hacked off. Chances of survival are poor. Medical illusraion by Alice MacGregor Harvey/NC Sae Veerinary Medicine p f h w w s c s A H A b h 5
poached in 2015. Jus six years ago, ha number was 125. Since is founding, Saving he Survivors says i has saved more han 200 rhinos. There are some sources ha sugges ha by 2024 here won be any more rhino lef in he wild, says Gerard. They will all be capive rhino a he curren rae of poaching. To some degree i feels a lile bi like you re on he edge of such a massive problem. I s like being on he edge of a gian chasm, says Blikslager. I hink everybody wans o know ha some place in he world here is a hing ha s called he wild, wih wild animals in i. We jus wan o know ha, says Blikslager. A Rhino Called Hope AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY, THERE WERE 500,000 RHINOS IN AFRICA AND ASIA. TODAY THERE ARE JUST 29,000 IN THE WILD. MORE THAN 3,500 GREATER ONE-HORNED RHINOS, FEWER THAN 100 SUMATRAN RHINOS AND ABOUT 60 JAVAN RHINOS. Blikslager and Gerard s work could help deermine furher reamen for Hope and he oher Saving he Survivors rhinos. We re in his experience wih his massive animal, ouching her skin, looking a he skin on he res of her body, says Gerard. You sop and look a yourself and hink abou wha you re doing. This is lierally his massive wild animal in fron of you. Tha was surreal in many respecs. During he course of his inerview, he wo wen from saying hey generally would like o go back o Souh Africa, possibly wih CVM sudens, o saying i could likely happen in wo years o definiely elling each oher ha hey waned o go back in a year ha hey needed o go back. Toward he end of heir rip, Blikslager and Gerard wen ino he wild o mee Hope (above). Hope has undergone several procedures o repair he damage o he op of her head, cleaved off by unidenified poachers. A whie rhino living in an enclosure, Hope spors a swah of bandages and elasic bands, sapled ino place a he op of her head. I s a privilege o be a par of helping hem. Tha s he way I look a i, says Gerard. If Marais called up and said, Ma, I need you on a plane omorrow and we wan you ou in Souh Africa for wo years o help us work on hese animals, I d probably jump on he plane wihou hinking oo hard. ~ Jordan Barel/NC Sae Veerinary Medicine The full version of his sory is a cvm.ncsu.edu/rhino-discovery. 6