Wild Baby Rhino Approaches Filmmaker To Get A Belly Rub

Apr 10, 2020 by apost team

South African filmmaker, Garth De Bruno Austin had a special encounter with a wild baby rhino that walked straight up to him wanting to get some belly rubs.

Filmmaker Garth De Bruno Austin has been involved in the production of the award-winning web series Greenfields and his work has been featured in multiple BBC productions such as How to Grow A Planet or Natures Miracle Orphans. He has always been very passionate about cinematography and started experimenting with cameras at a young age: 

“I started playing with my parents PowerShot camera at around the age of 10-11 and I think for me, it gave a great basis for the love of filmmaking as it wasn’t about the best camera gear, it was solely because I had a passion for creating,” he stated in an interview with Edelkrone.

apost.com

As Austin filmed for “Disunity,” a feature documentary about the rhinoceros poaching crisis in 2016, he had a once-in-a-lifetime experience when he encountered a baby rhino who approached him as she was desperate for a belly rub. Austin later posted the video of him giving the baby rhino a belly rub on YouTube. It didn’t take long until the video had over one million views. In the video’s description he said jokingly:

“If a rhino walks straight up to you while you’re filming and wants some rubs… you better rub that rhino like your life depends on it! Lucky for me she left my URSA Mini 4K camera alone!”

But even though the video is fun to watch Austin is aware that not every encounter with a rhino is this innocent and harmonious. He wants to make sure his video is not tempting anyone to carelessly approach wild animals as that could be very dangerous. Austin, therefore, warns people in the description saying:

“Do not try and do this with a truly ‘WILD’ rhino as it may end up with you being killed! Also, I did not approach this animal, it was completely her decision to let me come into her personal space and touch her. Once she had enough, she walked away and continued grazing.”

Were you aware of the fact that rhinos enjoy belly rubs just as much as we do? Let us know in the comments and be sure to pass this article along to your friends and family!