NEW YEAR WISHES

[Carol Anne Kincaid~Paradis]

White rhino gives birth to calf at Toronto Zoo after 11 years in the facility

A white rhino calf was born at the Toronto Zoo this week.

Zoo officials say a rhino named Sabi gave birth to a healthy calf just before 8 a.m. on Thursday.

This is the 15-year-old rhino's second calf -- her first calf Theo was born in 2017 and left Toronto in late 2021.

The zoo says Sabi arrived there in 2012 and her long reproductive cycles made conception a challenge.

The zoo staff made adjustments to Sabi's daily careand diet, and her behaviour suggested that her hormonal cycles had switched to the typical length of 30 days in the spring of last year.

Officials say the breeding introduction of Sabi with white rhino male Tom in the summer of 2022 was successful.

White rhinos in the wild are listed as "near threatened" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.

There are fewer than 16,000 left in the wild, with numbers declining due to habitat loss and the continued increase in poaching for their horns in the illegal wildlife trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2023.

The Canadian Press

I end this year with a simple  prayer.

Please heal the broken.

Make well the sick.

Restore happiness to those

in despair. 

Bring love to the lonely,

food to the hungry

and love and peace to our world.

Happy Trails Friend Blessings Happy New Year!