LOXAHATCHEE — Valentine’s Day often brings thoughts of flowers, chocolates and handwritten notes. At Lion Country Safari, love shows up a little differently, painted carefully in the shape of a pink heart.
As part of their daily wellness routine, the park’s Southern white rhinoceroses calmly and voluntarily line up outside the husbandry chute, waiting their turn. One by one, they walk inside for a quick fly treatment around the eyes, a process that takes less than five minutes per animal.
Instead of the usual clear fly repellent, keepers applied a pink ointment, the same type commonly used on horses, shaping it into a heart on each rhino. While the color and shape may catch the eye, the care itself is routine and part of regular daily management, not something done only for holidays…