Mystery as ‘precious’ baby rhino dies five days after birth sparking urgent probe at Australian zoo

A RARE baby white rhino has died suddenly less than a week after she was born at a zoo. The “precious” unnamed Southern white rhino calf was born early on Tuesday morning at Werribee Open Range Zoo in Australia. NEWS AUThe baby rhino died less than a week after being born[/caption] Zookeepers noticed the newborn wasn’t thriving as expected and was struggling to bond with her mother Kipenzi.  The calf was then given receiving around-the-clock care and was slowly being reintroduced to her mother when she died. Zoo staff attempted to resuscitate the calf, but they were unsuccessful. An urgent investigation found the calf suffered “a neurological episode just before midnight Saturday, followed by cardiac arrest”, said the zoo. The zoo’s director Mark Pilgrim said staff were devastated, but had done an excellent job in caring for the newborn during her first critical days. “The death of any animal is challenging for all involved, but we can find comfort in the knowledge that every action was taken to ensure the calf was receiving the best care possible,” said Dr Pilgrim. “We know this news will bring sadness to our zoo community, and our kind thoughts are with them and all who cared for this precious calf, and particularly with our vet and keeping teams who worked tirelessly to care for the calf over the past five days.”