Matt Bailey retweetledi
Twenty years ago, our Keepers heard a rhino calf crying in the Nairobi National Park forest.
They found him running in circles, completely blind, with no sign of his mother. She was never found. Surgery couldn't restore his sight – a congenital condition had taken it permanently. A blind bull rhino cannot survive in the wild.
So we made Maxwell a promise: the Nairobi Nursery would be his forever home.
Two decades later, he has become an institution in his own right.
Max is the Nursery patriarch – a gentle, steady presence who has watched over generations of orphaned elephants pass through on their journey back to the wild. They adore him. Many stop by his stockade each morning to say hello, reaching their trunks through the bars or tapping on the gate so he knows they're there. He recognises each one by sound and scent alone.
He is a double survivor: a member of a critically endangered species – black rhinos suffered a 98% population decline in Kenya between 1970 and 1983 – and a rhino who has built a rich, contented life without ever seeing it.
Happy 20th birthday, Maxwell.
sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/orphans/maxwell
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