Frank the sheep made international headlines when he was borrowed from a neighboring farm to become an unlikely companion for an orphaned white rhino calf at Shamwari’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in the Eastern Cape. The young rhino wasn’t recovering as well as veterinarians had hoped, and Dr. Johan Joubert suspected that loneliness was preventing the calf from thriving. After all, we all need friends, even baby rhinos. Frank’s presence worked like magic, and the little rhino began to heal, comforted by his faithful woolly companion who provided the emotional support that medicine alone couldn’t deliver. Their friendship hit a temporary snag during summer when Frank had to be shorn, and the confused rhino didn’t recognize his newly-trimmed friend, requiring a few days of reacquaintance before they became besties again.
Frank’s heartwarming story is just one example of the incredible work happening at Shamwari’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, which has been a safe haven for sick, abandoned, and injured wild animals for 33 years. Under Dr. Joubert and ecologist John O’Brien’s stewardship, the facility has grown from a small holding pen into one of the largest rehabilitation centers on the continent, featuring fully equipped operating theaters, specialized enclosures for everything from rhino calves to elephants, and dedicated aviaries for birds of prey. The center’s most recent addition includes a VulPro facility that welcomed 163 Cape and African White-backed vultures in 2024, including two endangered Egyptian Vultures brought in with hopes of boosting global population numbers. Frank may have been just a sheep in a rhino’s world, but his friendship proves that sometimes the most unexpected relationships provide exactly the healing that’s needed.