ONE-HORNED RHINO DIES AT S.F. ZOO.

Byline: Associated Press 

A rare one-horned rhinoceros that was a gift from the king of Nepal died at the San Francisco Zoo, just two hours before a scheduled surgery to find out why the animal had been sick for eight months.

Zoo keepers found the 9-year-old male rhino, named Chhendra, lying on his side and barely conscious about 6 a.m. Thursday and were trying to stabilize him when he died, said zoo spokeswoman Nancy Chan.

Veterinarians suspect that the rhino died of bowel disease or cancer but won't have a conclusive cause of death until more test results are in.

``This is tough because our keepers have really rallied around to take special care of him,'' Chan said. ``The keepers themselves have been pretty heartbroken and shook up, but they kind of expected it.''

The normal life span of a rhino is about 45 years, Chan said. There are an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 of the Asian rhinos in the wild.

Chhendra and a female rhino named Shanti - both presented by Nepal's Prince Gyanendra as gifts from the king - arrived at the zoo in 1987. Zoo officials had hoped the rhinos would breed, but attempts were unsuccessful, Chan said.

Zoo veterinarian Freeland Dunker said zoo keepers solicited advice from other zoos and conducted three complete physicals after they noticed Chhendra slowing down and losing his appetite in January. Veterinarians tried antibiotics, chemotherapy, diet changes and intestinal medicine to try to get the rhino healthy.

But the rhino eventually lost about 700 pounds during his illness and weighed about 2,700 pounds when he died.

``Some (treatments) seemed to help a little, but they'd only stabilize and then all of a sudden they wouldn't work,'' Dunker said. ``It was such a slow deterioration. He was basically a walking skeleton.''