'Ridiculous' plan developed at Florida zoo saves wild rhino's eyesight in Africa

A file picture from August 2025 showing Terblanche applying medicine to an endangered white rhino's infected eye at the Imvelo Safari Lodges in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. — Photos: JOHN TOWEY/Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society/AP

Corralling a wild rhinoceros into a small chute to give it eyedrops might seem like a crazy plan. But if it's crazy and it works, then it's not crazy.

Animal behaviourists partnering with the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society in Florida, United States travelled to Africa in August 2025 to help an endangered white rhino with a life-threatening, parasitic eye infection.