Throughout the Spring semester, Casey Buskohl and NDSCS-Fargo Welding students built a rhino cage to transport one of the Chahinkapa Zoo rhinos to another zoo. 

The first transport cage that the zoo purchased was easily destroyed by the rhino, so they turned to NDSCS Welding to build something different. Tom Schmaltz, Zoo Curator, reached out with photos of the first cage, highlighting the areas that worked, and those that failed. Using those photos and guidance, Casey and his 12 students designed and fabricated a new rhino cage from scratch. They built a skid bottom (no wheels), sides, and doors out of steel, and then added wood sides and top. 

Casey thanks his students for all of their work with this project – it was a big challenge mentally and physically due to its size and needs for strength and durability. 

The zoo showed their appreciation for this project by inviting the class to a visit to the zoo. The group came to Wahpeton to meet the rhino they built the cage for, and got a personalized, behind-the-scenes tour of Chahinkapa zoo. 

Thank you to Chahinkapa Zoo staff for trusting this big project to NDSCS. We were honored to help!

Read about the conclusion - the rhino's successful move in this crate - from Kathy Diekman's column in the Wahpeton Daily News from May 18, 2024!