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Series 4: 1. Rhino Rescue Special

In this episode, Steve is in South Africa, home to a huge number of animals on the Deadly 60. However, big predators aren’t what Steve is here for – he’s exploring the plight of the rhino. One of the planet’s greatest defenders in its own world, the rhino now needs our help. Sought after for their horns, these animals are on the verge of being poached to extinction.\n\nSteve travels to a rhino sanctuary to see for himself the effects of this terrible trade. He meets little Arthur the Brave, so named because when his mother was killed he stood over her and tried to protect her. He still bears the scars from where the poachers hit him when he was just three weeks old.\n\nSteve explains that rhinos need heroes to help in the fight against poachers and heads out to Kariega Reserve, where a crack anti-poaching team use the latest technology to stop poachers in their tracks. Steve goes on the run, but the anti-poaching unit track him down in a thrilling chase, with the help of Roxy the sniffer dog. He might evade the unit’s helicopters, radios and smoke bombs but there’s simply no escaping Roxy’s nose!\n\nAfter the excitement of the chase, Steve relates Thandi’s story. Thandi is a rhino that survived a poaching attack, and Steve watches footage of the aftermath of that attack, overcome with emotion as he describes the scene. He reveals that Thandi miraculously survived the ordeal and has gone on to have not one but three calves – the latest of which is named Mthetho. The name means ‘justice’ and is a fitting name as the poachers responsible for Thandi’s attack have recently been sentenced to 25 years in prison.\n\nOne of the best ways to protect rhinos is to keep a close watch on them. Steve joins South Africa’s number one rhino vet William Fowlds and his team as they take to the skies in a helicopter to dart a huge male rhino so that they can fit a radio collar. As he watches over the sleeping rhino, the enormity of the challenges these animals face really strikes Steve, and he makes a passionate plea that we must do all we can to save them if we want a world with rhinos.

Source: CBBC