"Thank Goodness": Newborn Zebra Rescued From Drowning and Reunited With Herd in SA Reserve

• A newborn zebra foal slipped into a dam inside a South African Intensive Protection Zone and became trapped, too weak to escape
• Care for Wild rushed the foal to an intensive care unit where vets treated him for shock and hypothermia before he stabilised
• Rescuers used drone technology to track down the mother and devised a clever plan to help the herd accept him back

A newborn zebra foal came within hours of death after becoming trapped in a dam inside a South African Intensive Protection Zone. The tiny animal, only a few days old and still with his umbilical cord attached, is believed to have slipped into the water while following his mother to drink. His legs were too weak to pull himself out, leaving him stranded, exhausted and at serious risk of hypothermia.

A visitor to the reserve spotted the struggling foal and raised the alarm with wildlife rescue organisation Care for Wild.

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Emergency care at the intensive care unit

The Care for Wild team pulled the foal from the water and wrapped him in warm towels immediately to counter the cold that had set into his body. They placed a blindfold over his eyes to keep him calm during the ordeal. At the organisation's intensive care unit, vets treated him for shock and gave him warm milk replacement to bring his dangerously low blood sugar back up. Within hours, he had stabilised.

Once he was strong enough, the team turned their attention to getting him home.

Drone search and a clever reunion trick

According to the report, reuniting a rescued foal with his herd is never straightforward. Zebras rely heavily on scent, and any trace of human contact on a young animal can cause the group to reject him entirely. To prevent this, caretakers rubbed zebra dung onto the foal's coat before releasing him, masking the human smell that had built up during his time in care.

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Finding the herd required hours of aerial searching. The team used drone technology to track the mother's location across the reserve and then released the foal in a clearing close to where she had been spotted. She responded quickly to her foal's calls, and he was welcomed back into the herd.

The rescue is a reminder of the skilled and often unconventional work carried out by wildlife conservation teams across South Africa every day.

See the full rescue clip here.

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Source: Briefly News