When leading actress Aishwarya Rai heard about the plight of an endangered black rhino, which was being sold for 'canned hunting' on a ranch outside Johannesburg, she immediately said "Cut!" on the sets of her recent photo shoot there.

She took a break to pen a heartfelt letter on the behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to David Laylin, President of Speedtech Instruments in Greatfalls, Virginia.

Laylin planned to sell the rhino to anybody who would kill her and then mount her head on a wall in his house after his attempts to breed her with an ageing bull at her South African home failed.

The actress urged the multi-millionaire to reconsider the decision and asked him to release the 'Baixinha', one of the fewer than 500 Michaeli rhinos remaining in the world, to a sanctuary where she can live the rest of her life in peace.

A PETA release quoting Aishwarya Rai's letter to Laylin says: 'The slaughter of an animal, so magnificent and rare would be a terrible tragedy. Making it even more tragic is the fact that 'Baixinha' is tame. She fears no humans and even takes food from a child's hand.'

UNI