Young white rhino Diederik dies suddenly at Wildlands zoo
Diederik, a 7-year-old white rhino at the Emmen zoo, died on Wednesday morning of a ruptured aorta that vets could not treat.
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Illustrative photo: Richard Broekhuijzen / CC BY-SA 4.0
The 7-year-old white rhino Diederik died suddenly on Wednesday morning at Wildlands in Emmen, Drenthe. A post-mortem at the veterinary faculty in Utrecht found he died of a ruptured aorta, the main artery from the heart.
The condition could not be treated. Keepers had seen unusual behaviour in Diederik on Tuesday and kept him in the indoor enclosure for observation, examination and care. The treatment had too little effect, and he died the next morning.
His body was taken to the veterinary faculty in Utrecht, where the post-mortem was carried out straight away. The faculty concluded that the ruptured aorta was fatal and that nothing could have been done to treat it.
Diederik had lived on the Emmen savanna since November 2022, four years ago this month. He moved to Drenthe together with his half-brother from Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem.
He was part of the European population management programme, in which zoos work together to keep a genetically healthy population of the animals.
Wildlands said the young male will be missed on its savanna. "Diederik will be missed," the zoo said.
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