Bringing the Rhinos Back — How It All Got Started

A Lasting Impression

For Jeff Giek, CEO of Rhino Internet Solutions and Rhino Staging, there's no question that the zoo needs rhinos. Giek first 'met' the Phoenix Zoo's venerable white rhino, Khetla, in the 1980s. That meeting made such an impression on him that, years later, both his family businesses bear the Rhino's name. Today, Giek is one of the key players behind the reintroduction of white rhinos to the Zoo this fall.

An Empty Space

For many years, the rhino enclosure at the Phoenix Zoo was the domain of 'Khetla', one of the Zoo's all-time most popular animals, who held a special place in the hearts of many Phoenicians. Khetla was a 4,000 pound male white rhinoceros who, when he passed away in November 2002 at 41 years of age, had lived to be one of the oldest rhinos in captivity. Khetla's passing had left an empty space in the zoo as well as in the hearts of its visitors. When Rhino employees voted to help bring rhinos back to the Phoenix Zoo in 2004, that empty space was on its way to being filled.

How the Adventure Unfolded

The new rhino adventure started when Rhino Internet Solutions was looking for marketing ideas to showcase its new capabilities as a full-service interactive agency. Rhino's "marketing connections" counselor Ann Videan, APR, knew the Phoenix Zoo had lost Khetla the previous year, and suggested Rhino bring back white rhinos to the zoo. In May of 2003, Videan started discussions with the Phoenix Zoo's Corporate Development Manager, Kelly Balthazor. Ideas were shared and research conducted. Then, in October 2003, the zoo's Director of Collections Geoff Hall came on board with a goal of increasing the zoo's living collections. The hunt for rhinos was officially on!

The New Rhinos

Within a few months, the Phoenix Zoo identified two female white rhinos at The Wilds Animal Park in Ohio. Being past reproductive age, the girls needed a sanctuary home. The Phoenix Zoo fit the bill, and discussions with Rhino Internet/Rhino Staging began in earnest. In July 2004, the groups arrived at an agreement, including significant financial and in-kind support for the Phoenix Zoo from Rhino Internet/Rhino Staging, and dates were set to bring the rhinos to Phoenix in the fall of 2004. Rhino Internet and Rhino Staging's support allowed The Phoenix Zoo to remodel its rhinoceros exhibit with a new medical chute and better drainage system in the housing enclosure. These modifications created an even better standard of care for the future inhabitants.

The Zoo's Rhino Legacy

The big girls are traveling to the Phoenix Zoo from The Wilds Animal Park in Cumberland, Ohio, in late September or early October of this year. They will arrive nearly two years to the month after the passing of Khetla, continuing his legacy—and beginning a new one of their own.