DUBLIN ZOO staff shot dead a rhinoceros on Thursday when she broke free while being loaded on to a container for transport to Longleat Safari Park in England. The rhinoceros, Dorothy (4), which was being exchanged for a bigger animal from Longleat, was too small to mate with Sam, the zoo's male rhino, writes Sean MacConnell.
A spokeswoman for Dublin Zoo said that the animal had been shot in the interests of public safety and that there had been no alternative.
Asked why the keepers had not used tranquilliser darts to sedate the animal when she escaped, the spokeswoman said that it was difficult to determine how much sedative to use and because the skin of a rhino was so thick, it could take some timed before the sedatives worked.