07/05/2003
17:11 -NEWS 24 (SA)
Pietermaritzburg - Two brothers were
injured on Tuesday when their hiking party was stormed by a bull
rhino
in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi
park in KwaZulu-Natal, park officials reported.
Geoff Gaisford, spokesperson
for KZN Wildlife, said the brothers, Mark and Sean Crozier, were
part of a group of about eight hikers.
As the group was hiking near a river,
accompanied by park rangers, they were unexpectedly charged by
a black rhino bull.
The group scattered
and the rangers fired warning shots, but the rhino was not deterred.
It hit the Crozier brothers before the rangers
brought it down, said Gaisford.
Mark appeared to be seriously injured
and was taken to the Umhlanga Rocks hospital by helicopter. A doctor
in Mtubatuba treated Sean
for minor injuries and shock.
According to Gaisford, an examination
of the carcass showed that the rhino was an old bull that was well-known
to the rangers and
had previously shown the typical shy behaviour of a black rhino.
Its sudden aggressiveness was probably
caused by its having been driven from its area by a younger bull.
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