The cables on which the 12 River Murray ferries run are incredibly strong, and for safety reasons, are replaced annually.

Monarto Safari Park, located on the outskirts of Murray Bridge, was in need of strong material to build a ‘rhino raceway’, connecting different rhinoceros enclosures around the open range zoo.

Following the recent annual replacement of the cables, the Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT), which operates the ferries, donated the cables to Monarto.

Around 8.5km of cable has been used as a fencing material for the rhino raceway. It's strong enough to keep Southern White Rhinos like Ibutho (pictured right in the raceway), who weighs around 2.3 tonnes and can run at speeds of up to 50 km per hour, on track when moving between enclosures.

DIT Marine and Mechanical Team Leader Joe Rositano said the department was happy to donate the cables.

“So Monarto needed some infrastructure, and they knew our ferry fleet had cables that we dispose of on a yearly basis, and they asked us if we could donate them, and we very much obliged,” Mr Rositano said.

“Each cable is about 350m long, there’s two cables per crossing, so there’s 8.5km supply of cable to Monarto.”

Monarto Safari Park Wild Africa Project Supervisor Tim Jenkins was grateful for the donation.

“The cable used here is about 22mm thick and is ideal to stop something like a rhino from pushing his way through," Mr Jenkins said.

“The cable donated by DIT has been fantastic, because it’s heavier than we could normally get anyway, so it’s a really, really great product to have."

Monarto is home to four Southern White Rhinos which form a 'crash' - the plural noun for a group of rhinos.

The Southern White Rhino is one of the largest land animals in the world. Learn more at the Monarto Safari Park.

View a video about the cable donation below.