When we think about animals affected by pollution, we picture birds covered in oil or trapped in those plastic rings that hold together six-packs of soda, or dolphins trapped in fishing nets.
The picture of a mighty rhino trapped by pollution likely doesn't come to mind — this is an animal that can weigh well over 3,000 pounds! — but it does happen as Mark the rhino discovered.
Discovered by park rangers in Zimbabwe, Mark was struggling with a tire horn looped over his snout, far enough back that it was stuck behind his front horn stub. The rhino could not open his mouth wide enough to eat or drink, let alone widen the tire's center enough for it to slip off.
Realizing this, rangers contacted Aware, a veterinary conservation group focused on animal rescue and rehabilitation in Zimbabwe. Members of Aware arrived on the scene and quickly fired off a tranquilizer dart at Mark so they could safely remove the tire. Eleven minutes later, vets administered an antidote and Mark was able to resume grazing.
As Aware explained in its Facebook post about the incident, the lake in the video had receded a good bit, granting animals access to things like nets and old tires that were previously covered by water. So the next time you think about animals harmed by pollution, don't forget that the bigger, stronger animals are at risk, just as smaller animals are.