My Wild Affair (2014–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - The Rhino Who Joined the Family - full transcript

Narrator: A month-old orphan

of one of Africa's
most-feared species,

rescued from certain death.

He captured the hearts
of 4 young children,

but half a century on,

mystery still
surrounds his fate.

Kate: Dad said we
were coming back
to see him,

So we all said good-bye.

That was really
the last time
we ever saw Rupert.

Narrator:
With the species on the brink,

the family is
on the hunt for answers.



Narrator:
An animal born to be wild.

The rarest of bonds
with a human.

A friendship across the divide.

A story of unbreakable devotion.

Announcer: "My wild affair"
was made possible in part

in part by contributions
to your pbs station

from viewers like you.

Narrator:
More than 50 years ago,

the lives of Mike Condy,
his brother, and two sisters,

Were turned upside down

By the arrival
of a rather special pet.

This vehicle rocked up
to our home in Harare

with this tiny baby black rhino.

Narrator: No one
had ever hand-raised



A black rhino calf before,
let alone in their own home.

It would be a time of joy
and tragedy in equal measure.

The memory of the precious time

he and
his 3 young siblings spent

with Rupert the orphan rhino
has never left Mike,

and the pain
of parting remains raw.

With the black rhino now
a critically endangered species,

Ravaged by poaching,
time is running out

For Mike to get closure
on Rupert's story.

50 years on,
he is journeying across Africa

To reconnect
with Rupert's memory.

Haven't seen one
in half a century.

Narrator: In one of the black
rhino's final strongholds.

My word.
My heart is pounding.

Narrator: At Kenya's
lewa wildlife conservancy,

wardens are at the cutting edge
of efforts to conserve

the same species that's
so close to Mike's heart.

With only 630 black rhinos
left in the country,

every animal is priceless.

To tag each one,

they cut a unique identity
pattern in its ears,

but first the rhino
must be taken down.

The drug takes effect
in seconds,

and the rhino is out cold.

Its ears painlessly notched,

and the antidote applied,
the animal is good to go.

A slick operation,
completed in minutes.

But in the early 1960s,

conservation was
a different ballgame altogether.

Catching a rhino
was a difficult business,

and it was an accident
in just such an operation

that orphaned a month-old baby.

December 1958 saw the
completion of the kariba dam,

A vast hydroelectric
power source

built across the zambezi river

between modern-day Zambia
and Zimbabwe.

At 5 times the capacity
of the hoover dam,

the resulting reservoir covered
2,000 square miles.

As the water Rose
on the zambezi floodplain,

a vast natural habitat would be
submerged forever.

There was only one man
equal to the mammoth task

of rescuing
the region's wildlife

and moving them to safety.

That was veteran game ranger
Rupert fothergill.

Peter Jones was a member
of fothergill's team

On the newly created lake.

Peter: In some places,
it was just the top
branches sticking out,

another place, it was
halfway up the trunk,

and you're like riding
through this forest
in a boat,

which was quite amazing.

Narrator:
Their efforts became

the largest animal
conservation project

Africa had ever seen,
operation Noah.

Reporter: "Operation Noah has
been an enormous undertaking.

The man-made kariba lake,
when it's completed,

will be 200 miles long
and 40 wide,

flooding a great area
of country,

once abounding with
thousands of wild animals...

Lions, elephants, buffalo,
and rhino among them.

Narrator:
While most of the animals

could be coaxed
to swim to safety,

one beast wouldn't cooperate,

and it had
a fearsome reputation.

As a kid, a very young kid,

I can remember being told
that the black rhino

is the devil of the bush,

and you just don't need one.

Let's put it this way...

A black rhino's
got a very short fuse.

He's a cantankerous character.

Pat: Even 100 miles away,
you're not safe enough,

and they really were bad news.

Narrator: Moving
this supremely aggressive beast

was the toughest challenge
the team would face.

The man fothergill
turned to for help

was government vet John Condy.

You know, John
was one of the pioneers

in terms of using drugs

Delivered by a dart
shot out of a gun

to immobilize animals.

Dad was making
sure these animals
were darted safely.

Narrator: The procedure was
fraught with danger.

The rhino
was a formidable beast,

and the drugs were
in their infancy.

The first problem was
to estimate the correct dosage.

Any mistake could be lethal.

Peter: Nobody knew what
the weight of a rhino was.

We couldn't really
pick a rhino up

and put him on a scale

and say, "okay, he weighs
2,000 kilos," whatever.

I mean, everything then
was pure guesswork.

The method from there
was dart the rhino...

We were all on foot...

Chase him through the bush
until he went down...

Narrator:
With the rhino tranquilized,

the team would have just minutes
to apply the antidote

before the drug
would stop its heart,

Not even enough time
to properly tie up the rhino.

The challenge then was to get
a ton of dazed, disoriented,

but still furiously thrashing
rhinoceros

onto a wooden sled,
and then onto a raft.

But the most dangerous part was
still to come... the release.

One of us would go in
with a bucket of water

and throw a bucket
of water over him,

And that was enough
to shock him so he kicked.

He realized his feet were free,

and he was on his feet.

Narrator: With the rhino
now fully awake and angry,

it would be hell-bent
on revenge.

Ha! We all took off
in different directions.

I think some of us climbed trees

that we would never
possibly be able to get up

under normal circumstances.

Narrator: But even
a retreat to the boat

was no guarantee of safety.

On one occasion,
team leader Rupert fothergill

Drew the rescued rhino's
full fury.

The rhino was up to his chest

And was trying
to climb up on the raft,

and Rupert takes his hat off,

and he smacks him across
the face with it.

The rhino got very upset
about that.

Anyway, eventually
he lumbered off

into the bush, and he was gone.

Narrator: By 1962,
thousands of animals

had been relocated and saved,
including dozens of rhinos.

But one female wasn't so lucky.

Mike: What happened
on this particular morning,

the rangers darted
this female rhino.

Pat: She rushed off
onto the water's edge,

and the drug took effect,

And she went under
the influence of the drug

and fell down with her head
only in about a foot of water,

but, unfortunately,
there weren't
enough people present

to lift this immobile rhino

out of the water
onto safe ground,

and she drowned there.

While they were
inspecting the carcass,

it was noticed
that she was lactating,

and that told them
there is a calf here.

If she's lactating,
there has to be
a calf around

Somewhere on that island.

Narrator: That calf, named
in honor of fothergill,

was Rupert.

Such a young rhino,
just a few weeks old,

Wouldn't survive a week
in the wild without its mother.

It needed a home.

It fell to the vet, John Condy,

to give the calf
a second chance.

He already had
a surrogate family in mind.

Mike: We were 4 children
at that stage.

I was the eldest at 8,
and the youngest at 3,

so there were 4 of us siblings

separated by 5 years, 4 months,

and dad had the audacity
to suggest to mum,

"how about another baby?"

Narrator: Half a century on,
Mike's going back to the house

he and his siblings grew up in.

In 1962, the Condy family
lived in Salisbury,

The capital city
of Southern rhodesia,

A former British colony,
rich in prime agricultural land

and home
to a growing population.

Today, Salisbury has become
Harare, capital of Zimbabwe.

But while much has changed

in Southern Africa
since his childhood,

little has been altered
in the suburban house

where Mike, Dave, Kate,
and Diana Condy grew up

with a little rhino
called Rupert.

Today, Mike's sisters
still own the property,

where they keep their father's
old veterinary diaries.

Mike: What's fascinating
about reading
this little diary

Is just physically seeing
dad's handwriting.

It's amazing. I haven't
really contemplated
this for a while,

but it's just so nice to see.

Dad was a man of few words,

and this was just the pertinent

little bits
of information
that he kept,

going back to 1962,

and the first item
relevant to Rupert was,

"Rupert arrived,
13th of may."

We were told that this
little rhino was coming,

That he'd be frightened and sad,
and that we must all be quiet

and just try and get on
with him and help him.

Dave: The first time
I saw Rupert,

he was a tiny little chap,
and, he was terrified.

Kate: I mean,
he'd never seen
a human being.

It must have been
a very scary place

for a little baby rhino to be.

Narrator: To ensure the rhino
had some company and a soft bed,

John Condy decided to put him
in a corner of the cow shed

at the bottom of the garden,

but it proved
to be a bad choice.

That night in may
happened to be
quite a chilly evening.

It was the start
of an early frost in may

that we had that year,

and Rupert really
battled that evening.

In fact, the next morning,

dad thought that Rupert
would not make it.

I just remember, sitting there,
waiting just quietly

for him to sort of thaw out.

Poor little guy
was really traumatized

Mike:
He was extremely weak.

We then took him up
to our garage,

which was closer to the home,

and dad made a little nest

surrounded by boxes
and hay bales

with some infrared lamps
to keep Rupert warm.

Narrator: In the warmth
of the garage,

The little rhino rallied.

But it was some time
before Rupert felt able

to trust his new companions.

Diana: He was, you know,
very scared and shy.

He was, you know,
slowly trying each day

to come out
and see the world, you know.

I can still remember
the day he ventured

past the entrance of the garage.

We had to coax him out
with a bottle,

because it was a strange
new world to him.

Narrator: The Condys
had a mountain to climb.

In 1962, nobody had ever
hand-raised a baby rhino before.

Today at lewa wildlife
conservancy,

the challenge of rescuing
baby rhinos like Rupert

is all too familiar.

If a mother is unable
to look after her calf

or succumbs to poaching,

it falls to chief of security
John pameri and his team

To take on the task
of hand-rearing the baby.

For the last couple of years,

we have been having some calves
which been abandoned by mothers,

some mothers died,

and then we take them
and we hand-raise.

Narrator: But hand-raising
the orphans is a delicate art,

and their diet must be
carefully controlled.

To begin with, the little rhinos
are totally dependent on milk.

John: Sometimes
when you start introducing it,

you might start seeing

Rhino diarrhea,
things like that,

and there will be a big problem
if you see such things.

So you need to give a little

and then, in time, you start
increasing slowly by slowly.

Narrator: By managing
their milk intake,

it is hoped that
the current crop of calves

can be nursed successfully
through their early years.

With luck
and a lot of hard work,

they may one day be
strong enough

to release into the wild.

In 1962, the very first
hand-raised orphan rhino

was just beginning
to find his feet.

Rupert had finally found
the courage

to leave the sanctuary
of the garage.

As his confidence grew,
he took to the milk

and to the children with gusto.

Mike:
We loved feeding Rupert.

We used to love
the sound of the milk

drawing through the teat.

Kate: Once he got to
know us and everything,

gee, he would come
running for that milk.

And then we could
really cuddle him
and be his friend.

Narrator: Having grown up
alongside their furry friend,

Ricky the Irish terrier,

the tough, leathery rhino
was something of a novelty,

but the kids soon discovered
Rupert had a softer side.

Dave: He had a little nob
for a horn

and then this
strong bone structure

all the way up to these ears
that were like radars,

and then he had this gentle,
gentle... these eyes.

These big, gentle eyes.

I remember his dear little lip

and his sad little eyes.

You know, the skin was rough,

but he had
little soft places
like behind his ears

and under his chin.

Dave: It's a feel
that nothing else has.

It's better than shammy leather.

And we used to
love touching him
underneath his flanks.

The skin was so soft,

which was quite unusual for us.

We thought, "gosh,
this rhino's hide
is really hard,"

but he had some
very soft, tender skin.

And he had
a smell like... dust.

I can just smell
that little boy now.

It was a lovely...
A lovely smell.

Narrator: Despite Rupert's
increasing boldness,

his feeding was a cause
for concern

for John Condy
and his wife, Joan.

The vet had created a formula
as close as possible

to rhino's milk, but nobody
knew if it would work.

Rupert was, inescapably,
an experiment,

one that didn't go
completely to plan.

Pat: There was a...
A touch-and-go period.

Real touch-and-go as to
whether he would make it.

And I think
he was scouring quite badly,

diarrhea quite badly
around about that time.

Mum was so concerned.

She really wanted
this little chap
to do well,

like you want
your children
to be well.

Narrator: In the 1960s,
a small dose of charcoal

was a popular remedy
for an upset stomach.

So imagine this chemist's
amazement, bemusement,

about a woman walking in
and asking for

I don't know how many
kilograms of charcoal,

and then to learn
that this was actually

to be fed to a baby rhino.

Kate: The charcoal
eventually did work.

I don't think
too many people knew
exactly what to do

with a baby rhino
with a runny tummy,

and mum did
her best as a nurse
and as a mum.

Narrator: With his stomach
back to normal,

Rupert quickly
began to work his way

into the family's everyday life

and became the focus
of all their attentions.

Kate: Coming home
from school,

he would always be
asleep or lying around.

I think that midday was
his sort of siesta time,

quiet time,

and in the evenings,
that was fun time.

Narrator: And Rupert was
also charming the neighbors.

He made firm friends

With the boy next door,
Simon Ford.

In the evening,
just before sundowners,

Rupert's nose went down,

and he went on the rampage.

It was his time of the day

to burn off excess
energy and steam.

So good...
Get out the way,
and we did.

Okay, now,
this is the general area

where Rupert used to spend
his afternoons,

racing around the home.

It was great joy for him.

He used to disappear
around this side of the house,

And he would reappear
with Ricky hot on his heels,

Cantering past here,

and then he would
disappear down the driveway,

and then reappear again.

And it was just as though
he was just having

half an hour
of extramural activities.

He loved it,
absolutely loved it.

And I remember there
were times when Dave

was brave enough
to try and straddle Rupert

and grab a quick ride
as he went galloping past.

I was the first one
to ride Rupert.

You had to grip
on to the hind quarters

and squeeze if
you wanted to stay on.

Dave and I used to get on
quite a lot together.

He'd run around
the house in
this sort of madness,

and he'd slow down.

As soon as you got
him at the right speed,

you could jump on him,
then he was off.

The speed was amazing,
and strength.

There were hedges
he knew he could
take me through

and get rid of me,
which often happened.

And as I'd fall off, he'd stop,

and he'd come back
snorting and blowing,

and, you know,
"let's get the game
going again."

But you could actually see,
he thoroughly enjoyed

the physical connection
that us kids had with him.

I think it's natural
for children

To play with the animals,

so why not cuddle and love

and be upfront and personal
with a black rhino?

After on a month or two of life
in the Condy household,

Rupert and his new playmates
d become firm friends,

and the extensive
garden surrounding

The house was his own
little territory.

He settled completely into
suburban life with the Condy's.

For the new member of the Condy family,
nowhere was off limits.

Rupert's thirst for
human company was insatiable.

Kate: Breakfast, lunch,
and supper, rupey was there,

And he was to be fed,

and he always
had to be looked after.

We loved it because, you know,

he'd come and watch TV.

Just put a pillow
under his head,

And he'd watch TV with us.

Simon: Yeah, we just used
to lie on him.

He was literally
part of the family.

He loved the company,
he loved being with us.

Narrator: Each evening,
once the TV was off,

Rupert would roam the house
looking for company,

and he was never turned away.

The Condy home was
the little rhino's castle.

The two boys were
in one bedroom,

and my sister and I were
in another bedroom,

and he would just come
quietly into the room

and put his head on...
Onto the bed.

And we would just stroke
his little face.

He was always
in and out of the rooms.

No one ever kicked him out.

Narrator: A part of the family
from dawn till dusk,

Rupert was becoming a thoroughly
domestic little rhino.

At lewa, the orphaned rhinos
also spend the whole day

in the company of people.

But, today, rather than getting
too used to home comforts,

they are lead out each morning
from their secure stable

And into the bush for
a little wilderness training.

Watched over by the keepers,

they're taught what vegetation
to eat and what to avoid.

John: What you do every day

Is that you
take out in the field

and then bring back again
in the evening,

and just to learn maybe
vegetation to eat.

So take them out there
all the day,

bring them back
because of predators.

Then the following day,
you do the same,

until it reaches a stage

that we will not now allow
them to come back.

Narrator: It will be
a long time before these rhinos

Are ready to spend the night
in the bush and forage alone.

Until then, they rely
on their surrogate mothers

To protect them.

In suburban Salisbury,

Rupert was living
in the lap of luxury,

attended constantly
by 4 smitten children,

who couldn't help but spoil
him with treats,

including
his favorite... bananas.

But the question remained...

What should a rhino
really be eating?

In an attempt
to introduce Rupert

to more roughage
and natural food,

we used to mix lucerne
into balls of mealie-meal pap.

Narrator:
Feeding Rupert on vegetation

mixed into maize-meal,

John Condy did his best to
wean him off milk and fruit

and onto the sort of food
a rhino might find in the bush.

But to the neighbors' horror,

Rupert seemed to have developed
a more refined taste.

Pat: Once he started
eating vegetation,

he could go around consuming
anything he wanted to eat.

Mike: Now mum's garden
was never a prize flower garden.

There were just too many animals
and kids to worry about,

but Megan Ford
had some prize roses.

Simon: Mum was proud of
her roses until Rupert arrived,

and he usually got to the nice,
fresh buds before she did,

so the Rose garden
sort of disappeared.

Narrator: For John Condy,

the fact that Rupert
was munching

on the family flora
was actually quite good news.

It showed he still had
the natural browsing instincts

Of a wild black rhinoceros.

There were other signs
that Rupert had retained

a little
of his wild rhino nature.

Mike:
Now, this is the general area

where Rupert used to spend
most of his happy days.

It was a mud bath,

And now it's Kate's
lovely Petunia garden.

Dad used to run a tap
into a piece of ground,

and we made a mud bath
for Rupert.

He absolutely loved it.

This was his...
Like his little swimming pool.

You could just see the sheer joy
in his whole body language

just relishing
in rolling in the mud.

It was fun watching him
having a mud bath,

'cause he absolutely loved that.

Narrator: Rupert's love
of a good wallow,

however relaxing,
could lead him into trouble.

I do recall the one day, mum...

I think it was a Monday,
washing day,

and rupey had just strolled
down the passage.

Mum was busy
in the laundry, attending
to the Monday washing.

I walked up the passage,

and there, Rupert had come in
from having a mud bath

and walked into mum's room,

And he was rubbing
his bottom up one...

Up the bed,
putting the mud everywhere,

And then come turning
around and rubbing,

Coming back again.

And I remember running
to my mum and saying,

"mummy, Rupert...
Rupert's in your bedroom.

Please come,"

and she's saying,
"yes, I'm coming, I'm coming!"

I can still remember
her saying, "Rupert!"

And she clapped her hands,
and she shouted.

And he was so cross with her,

I remember him going
around the corner