Bangladesh zoo seeks new love for lonely rhino Kanchi

Pandemic travel restrictions hamper efforts to find a mate for the lonely rhino after she lost her partner

The authorities of Bangladesh's largest zoo plan to import a male partner for Kanchi the Rhino, who has been living in a pen alone for seven years, an official said. AFP

Rhino caretaker Forid Mia cuddles Kanchi inside an enclosure at the zoo in Dhaka. AFP

The authorities of Bangladesh's largest zoo plan to import a male partner for Kanchi the Rhino, who has been living in a pen alone for seven years, an official said. AFP

The authorities of Bangladesh's largest zoo plan to import a male partner for Kanchi the Rhino, who has been living in a pen alone for seven years, an official said. AFP

The authorities of Bangladesh's largest zoo plan to import a male partner for Kanchi the Rhino, who has been living in a pen alone for seven years, an official said. AFP

Visitors walk at the zoo in Dhaka. AFP

A lonely rhinoceros at a Bangladesh zoo is looking for new love after losing her partner seven years ago, but pandemic travel restrictions are hampering her keeper's attempts to play matchmaker.

Kanchi, a star attraction at the Bangladesh National Zoo, is at her most fertile age. But since the death of her male partner in 2014 she has been living on her own in her muddy pen.

Her loneliness has become increasingly apparent to the two million-plus visitors a year at the attraction in the capital Dhaka.

Kanchi refuses food and often snubs her carer Farid Mia, who hugs the rhino and scratches her neck and shoulders.

The one-tonne vegetarian is served six kilograms of rice bran and one kilo of chickpeas each day.

"Her mood swings frequently. Sometimes she does not respond to my calls. It is mainly because she has grown up alone all these years," Mr Mia said.

"I tell her that we will soon find her a male partner. But she is restless. She needs a partner desperately."

Abdul Latif, curator of the zoo, said the coronavirus pandemic had blocked recent efforts to bring in a male rhino from Africa.

"We know she feels lonely and we are trying our best to buy a suitable partner," Mr Latif told AFP.

While Kanchi awaits her perfect match, she ambles around her pen and wallows in her mud spa or basks lazily in the sun, ignoring the multitudes who come to see the 3,000 animals at the zoo.