A baby rhino in South Africa is seen in a video nuzzling up to a keeper in order to snuggle with her.
Daily Mail reports the four-month-old rhino was orphaned when poachers killed his mother. Now at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre in South Africa, Gertjie is seen in the video trying to move closer to his keeper’s lap before eventually laying down and putting his head on her leg.
The baby rhino is too afraid to sleep alone and sleeps better when someone is close by. When he was found on May 7, his mother had been killed for her horn. The baby rhino didn’t want to leave his mother’s side and was “crying inconsolably.”
Keepers feed the rhino every three hours and will sleep with him so he won’t be scared.
ABC News reported the baby’s mother was brutally killed at the Kapama Game Reserve. The baby rhino is doing well and takes walks daily and drinking gallons of milk a day.
It has been reported that the incidents of rhinos being poached increased from 668 in 2012 to 1,004 in 2013 according to SavetheRhino.org. They are often poached for their horns, which are said to be in high demand.