SWT/KWS MOBILE VETERINARY UNITS
TSAVO, MARA, MERU, AMBO MT KENYA, RIFT VALLEY
January – March 2023 Report
January – March 2023 Report for Tsavo, Mara, Meru, Amboseli, Mt Kenya and Rift Valley Units.
The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT), in conjunction with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) operate six Mobile Veterinary Units Within the quarter, the Units attended to a total of 195 wildlife cases involving 265 animals.
There were 68 elephant, 16 predator, 19 rhino, 56 plains game, 18 giraffes, 12 buffalo cases as well as 3 security dogs cases and relocation of 5 ostriches and treatment of another. During the same relocation operation in February, 6 wildebeest were also moved from the same area due to over population.
Out of the poaching cases, there were 51 snaring cases, 20 spear, 10 arrow and 2 bullet wounds. The majority of the snare cases were plains game with 27 zebra, 3 buffalo, 2 waterbuck, 1 impala and 1 wildebeest treated for snare related injuries as well as 12 giraffe and 3 elephants Only 1 giraffe died from the injuries and 4 zebras given a guarded prognosis; the rest were treated successfully. Of the 32 other poaching cases, there were only 3 deaths; a post-mortem of a giraffe which revealed an arrow wound, another giraffe which died from spear injuries before the vet arrived and an elephant which was euthanised due to a severe spear injury. Five elephants were also given a guarded prognosis: 2 for bullet wounds and 3 for spear injuries.
There has been an increase in human-wildlife conflict cases during this quarter involving a various species including 2 elephants and 3 colobus monkeys which were electrocuted due to faulty wiring, 1 elephant was treated for a bullet wound and 9 for spear wounds due to conflict with the communities, 3 lions were speared and 2 relocated due to proximity to people and/or livestock predation. A total of 29 animals (oryx, buffalo, 7 elephants, 13 giraffe, 5 waterbucks 2 zebra) were relocated to alleviate potential human-wildlife conflict.
Of the cases there was a 73% success rate and only 6% death rate due to poaching or human-wildlife conflict.
Case Details
195 Cases 83 Poaching Cases 68 Elephant Cases 16 Predator Cases 35 HWC Cases 74% Success
Elephant Predators Rhinos Plains Game Giraffe Buffalo Other Grand Total Poaching 31 32 14 6 83 HWC 18 5 8 1 2 1 35 Natural Causes 11 11 9 12 3 4 3 53 Postmortem 6 4 2 12 Rescue 2 1 3 Relocation 2 1 3 Technical Cases 5 1 6 Grand Total 68 16 19 56 18 12 6 195 Introduction
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Poaching HWC Natural Causes Postmortem Rescue Relocation Technical Cases
Other Buffalo Giraffe Plains Game Rhinos Predators Elephant 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Snared Spear Arrow Bullet Wound Relocation Spear Panga Electrocution Arrow Bullet Wound Human Items Livestock Predation Manhole Poison Poaching HWC
Other Buffalo
195 Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Vet Units
January - March 2023
118 Poaching and HWC Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Vet Units
January - March 2023
Giraffe Plains Game Predators Elephant
Outcomes of Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Vet Units
Outcomes of Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Vet Units January - March 2023
25 14 32 7 28 37 4 2 5 1 5 4 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 6 8 4 1 Tsavo Mara Mt Kenya Meru Amboseli Rift Valley
Successful Cases Prognosis Poor Poaching Death HWC Death Died Taken to Orphanage Successful Cases 73% Prognosis Poor 11% Poaching Death 3% HWC Death 3% Died 10% Taken to Orphanage 0%
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January
March 2023
SWT/KWS Mobile Vet Unit Treatment Locations
Tsavo – Mara – Meru –Amboseli – Mt Kenya – Rift Valley
January – March 2023
SWT/KWS TSAVO MOBILE VETERINARY UNIT OVERVIEW
January – March 2023
30 Cases 16 Poaching Cases 17 Elephant Cases
The Tsavo Conservation Area during this quarter has been generally dry, and the extremely high temperatures scorched the little vegetation that was left. Forage was becoming increasingly scarce, and most small pools and natural water pans were running dry save for a few deep in the park where most of the animals have sought refuge. However, there were clear signs of impending rain at the end of March some parts of the conservation area received some precipitation. The SWT-KWS Tsavo Mobile Veterinary Unit attend to 30 cases in total during this quarter including 17 elephant, 1 cheetah, 4 lion, 5 zebra, 1 giraffe and 2 buffalo. Out of all the cases, the Unit were 83% successful.
30
January - March 2023
Buffalo Giraffe
Plains Game
Predators
Elephant
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Poaching HWC Natural Causes
Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Tsavo Vet Unit
Outcomes of Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Tsavo Vet Unit January - March 2023
January – March 2023 Successful Cases 83% Prognosis Poor 14% HWC Death 3%
SWT/KWS Tsavo Mobile Vet Unit Treatment Locations
January 2023
The Tsavo Vet Unit were on Leave in January
February 2023
To see the full report for Tsavo Vet Unit for the month of February 2023 click here
March 2023
To see the full report for Tsavo Vet Unit for the month of March 2023 click here
SWT/KWS MARA MOBILE VETERINARY UNIT OVERVIEW
January –
March 2023
17 Cases 7 Poaching Cases 8 Elephant Cases
January falls at the tail end of the short rains season which was characterized by low and poorly distributed rainfall. This further exacerbated the dry conditions experienced since the long rains season which also had poor rains As drought ravages the Mara Ecosystem, the scramble for scarce resources has been compounded by cattle incursion into the National Reserve. Consequently, this has led to dire human-wildlife conflict as exhibited by the large number of cases attended to involving spear injuries. The situation can only improve if cattle incursion into the reserve is discouraged, and we are once again blessed with rain. Thankfully rains fell towards the end of the March giving a lifeline to the Mara ecosystem.
17 Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Mara Vet Unit
January - March 2023
Other
Buffalo
Giraffe
Plains Game
Rhinos
Predators
Elephant
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Poaching HWC Natural Causes Postmortem Rescue Relocation Technical Cases
Outcomes of Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Mara
]
Mara Mobile Vet Unit Treatment Locations January – March 2023 Successful Cases 82% Prognosis Poor 12% Died 6%
SWT/KWS
January - March 2023
Vet Unit
January 2023
The Mara Vet Unit were on leave for the month of January 2023
February 2023
To see the full report for Mara Vet Unit for the month of February 2023 click here
March 2023
To see the full report for Mara Vet Unit for the month of March 2023 click here
SWT/KWS MERU MOBILE VETERINARY UNIT OVERVIEW
January – March 2023
9 Cases
4 Poaching Cases
3 Elephant Cases
Wildlife in the Meru ecosystem continued to prosper despite the effects of last year’s drought. Various wildlife species were observed to be in good health, and the number of new-born elephants were noted to have increased. In March, dark clouds in the evenings and an increase in daytime temperatures heralded the end of the protracted dry spell and the beginning of the rainy season. We are optimistic that there will be more forage and water available for wildlife in the Meru ecosystem, the trees are slowly beginning to bloom and the water levels are gradually rising. The beginning of the year was relatively quiet with only 3 cases in January and 6 Cases in March. Of these cases there were 2 speared elephants, 1 elephant with a bullet wound due to human-wildlife conflict, 2 snare injures, 2 natural cases and vaccination of a security dog.
9 Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Meru Vet Unit
January - March 2023
Other Giraffe Plains Game
Rhinos
Elephant
. 0 1 2 3 4 5 Poaching HWC Natural Causes Technical Cases
Outcomes of Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Meru
Meru Mobile Vet Unit Treatment Locations January – March 2023 Successful Cases 78% Prognosis Poor 11% Poaching Death 11%
SWT/KWS
Vet
January - March 2023
Unit
January 2023
To see the full report for Meru Vet Unit for the month of January 2023 click here
February 2023
The Meru Vet Unit were on leave for the month of February 2023
March 2023
To see the full report for Meru Vet Unit for the month of March 2023 click here
SWT/KWS AMBOSELI MOBILE VETERINARY UNIT OVERVIEW
January – March 2023
47 Cases 21 Poaching Cases 28 Elephant Cases
During this quarter there was an increase in cases, mostly associated with human-wildlife conflict which has been exacerbated by the drought. Rains received in November 2022, and for a few non-continuous days in December were unevenly distributed and barely resulted in sufficient vegetation regeneration. Vegetation was mostly present in areas receiving flash floods associated with rains on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. As a result, the wildlife moved out of the park which led to competition for forage and water resources giving rise to conflict between people and wildlife. March 2023 marked the end of the prolonged drought with heavy downpours in the last week. The upper section of Amboseli National Park and the adjacent community areas were flooded becoming a nucleus for grass and other vegetation.
January - March 2023
Other
Buffalo
Giraffe
Plains Game
Rhinos
Predators
Elephant
0 5 10 15 20 25 Poaching HWC Natural Causes Postmortem Rescue
47 Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Amboseli Vet Unit
Outcomes of Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Amboseli Vet Unit
January - March 2023
SWT/KWSAmboseli Mobile Vet Unit Treatment Locations
January – March 2023 Successful Cases 60% Prognosis Poor 11% Poaching Death 2% HWC Death 8% Died 17% Taken to Orphanage 2%
January 2023
To see the full report for Amboseli Vet Unit for the month of January 2023 click here
February 2023
To see the full report for Amboseli Vet Unit for the month of February 2023 click here
March 2023
To see the full report for Amboseli Vet Unit for the month of March 2023 click here
SWT/KWS MT KENYA MOBILE VETERINARY UNIT OVERVIEW
January – March 2023
44 Cases 10 Elephant Cases 10 Poaching Cases
During this quarter, the Mt Kenya Mobile Wildlife Veterinary Unit attended to 44 reported wildlife cases The area has suffered from the same drought conditions effecting the rest of the country. However, the rains started in March, and we expect the drought to stop and cases to reduce. Significant cases include the rescue of a 3-day-old white rhino calf in Ol Pejeta Conservancy as the mother was not able to produce enough milk and the calf was too weak to keep up and therefore abandoned. The Unit continue assist Ol pejeta, with the surrogacy project for assisted reproduction of northern white rhino with embryo transfer and translocations They also translocated 14 white rhinos in Ol jogi to decongest the Pyramid and reduce territorial fights and 4 white rhinos from Meru NP to Partikilat Conservancy.
January - March 2023
Buffalo
Giraffe
Rhinos
Predators
Elephant
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Human
Poaching HWC Natural Causes Postmortem Rescue Relocation Technical Cases
Wildlife Conflict
44 Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Mount Kenya Vet Unit
Plains Game
Outcomes of Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Mount Kenya Vet Unit
SWT/KWS Mt Kenya Mobile Vet Unit Treatment Locations
January – March 2023 Successful Cases 73% Prognosis Poor 11% Poaching Death 2% Died 14%
January
- March 2023
January 2023
To see the full report for Mt Kenya Vet Unit for the month of January 2023 click here
February 2023
To see the full report for Mt Kenya Vet Unit for the month of February 2023 click here
March 2023
To see the full report for Mt Kenya Unit for the month of March 2023 click here
SWT/KWS RIFT VALLEY MOBILE VETERINARY UNIT OVERVIEW
January – March 2023
48 Cases 25 Poaching Cases 34 Plains Game Cases
Most of the areas south and north of Lake Naivasha and the Central Rift Conservation Area in general were mostly dry at the beginning of the year. Towards the end of March, seasonal rains were experienced in many places that is hoped to continue into April. The Unit have attended to 48 cases, 25 of which were related to poaching. The most common cause of treatment is snare injuries, as bushmeat poaching for zebra, buffalo, giraffe and other grazers is prevalent in this area. Human-wildlife conflict is also fairly common. In 3 separate cases, the Vet Unit translocated 36 animals in total. These included the translocation of 5 waterbucks from Flamingo Farm to Kingfisher Farm, 21 giraffes from community land to Loldia Conservancy and 5 impalas, 4 ostriches and 1 wildebeest within Marula Estates.
48
January - March 2023
Other Buffalo Giraffe Plains Game Elephant
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Poaching HWC Natural Causes Postmortem Relocation
Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Rift Valley Vet Unit
Outcomes of Cases Attended to by the SWT/KWS Rift Valley Vet Unit
January - March 2023 Successful Cases 77% Prognosis Poor 9% Poaching Death 4% HWC Death 2% Died 8%
SWT/KWS Rift Valley Mobile Vet Unit Treatment Locations
January
March 2023
-
January 2023
To see the full report for Rift Valley Vet Unit for the month of January 2023 click here
February2023
To see the full report for Rift Valley Vet Unit for the month of February 2023 click here
March 2023
To see the full report for Rift Valley Vet Unit for the month of March 2023 click here
