AERIAL SURVEILLANCE UNIT MONTHLY REPORT
SEPTEMBER 2019
AERIAL STATISTICS
HOURS FLOWN
KMS COVERED
SEPTEMBER 2019
123
16,331
Tsavo East and West, Chyulu Hills, Taita Ranches, Amu Ranch
AREAS PATROLLED
SEPTEMBER 2019
MONTHLY AERIAL PATROL MAP
MONTHLY AERIAL SUMMARY Another busy month for the Aerial Unit in September, although there were only a few poaching incidents recorded, which is always positive. Between helicopter and fixed wing patrols, several poachers’ hideouts were discovered, most of these were not active, however one active harbour was found during a fixed wing patrol along the edge of the Yatta Plateau. As the aircraft was climbing to cross over the Yatta on the way to Ithumba, the glow of a campfire under a large boulder on the edge of the Plateau caught the pilot’s eye. Without turning and alerting the poachers of their detection, the pilot quickly took a GPS coordinate from his position 50-100 metres to the north of the fire and radioed it into the Ops Room so that a helicopter could be immediately deployed with the K9 Unit onboard. Within forty minutes, the helicopter was on top of the harbour and another ground team had been deployed to the road below the Yatta to act as an ambush in case the poachers made a run for it. Unfortunately, the poachers were able to escape the harbour and although the K9 Unit was able to pick up tracks, they turned out to be hunting tracks from the previous night. The poachers escaped in such a hurry however, that the team was able to recover over 50kg of bushmeat, as well as 2 bows, 4 arrows (non-poisonous), 2 flashlight/horn combinations intended for dazing animals at night, and a mobile phone along with numerous cooking utensils and pots. In addition to these harbours, 2 bird traps were also sighted and confiscated as a result of aerial patrols.
Charcoal kiln sightings were relatively uncommon in September with only 3 kilns being identified, along with a single charcoal sack on a separate patrol. However, several cut trees were noted across multiple patrols and had most likely been felled with the intention of turning them into charcoal. The goal is to see this activity eliminated completely, but we are encouraged nonetheless, by the dramatic reduction in charcoal burning in the parks over the last few years. There has been a similar dramatic reduction in livestock over the last few years, especially in Tsavo East. This time of year, towards the end of the dry season, the parks historically face overwhelming levels of livestock incursions. But thanks to a concerted effort between ours and other NGOs’ aerial presence and consistent follow-ups by KWS, there is comparatively very little livestock still making its way into Tsavo East. There have still been some small herds and a small number of bomas/manyattas being sighted in small areas of the Park within a relatively short distance from the boundary. Two years ago, there were 10s of thousands of head of livestock in the Park, extending as far as 60 kilometres deep into the Park, so the difference is truly transformational. Unsurprisingly, because of this reduction, there has been a notable increase in the numbers of elephants in the areas that were heavily infested with livestock before. Unfortunately, the numbers of livestock in Tsavo West are still at unacceptable levels. Average patrols between Lake Jipe and Losoito to the north observed around 5000 head of livestock as well as several bomas where livestock was being held overnight within the Park.
Only two cases of Human Wildlife Conflict were attended to by helicopter in September, which were along the Northwest boundary of Tsavo East NP. Small groups of elephants were pushed back into the Park on both occasions. Like August, fires continued to burn in the Chyulu Hills, and the helicopter was deployed for one day to assist in positioning men, supplies and water to fight the fires on the ground. The remainder of the fires appeared to be only affecting grass and were extinguished naturally before causing significant damage to the cloud forest.
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As for veterinary treatments, two cases involved the Aerial Unit in September. When an injured bull elephant presented itself at the Ithumba Stockade with what appeared to be an arrow wound high on its right rear leg, a plane flew immediately to Voi to collect the vet and his assistant. Fortunately, the helicopter was already onsite, having been patrolling in the area that morning. The elephant was darted from the helicopter and then herded towards the nearest road before it went down, so that it could be easily accessed. The vet was able to remove a poisoned arrow as well as several kilos of necrotic flesh and pus from a large abscess on the leg. A second, smaller wound was also attended to on the elephant’s back. These actions undoubtedly saved the elephant’s life, as the embedded arrow would eventually have led to septicaemia. Another treatment was attended to on Rukinga Ranch where an elephant had found its way into a wire snare, which had tightened around the neck, face and ear. The snare was removed, and the wound cleaned out before administering anti-inflammatories and antibiotics.
To the south of Rukinga Ranch, on Taita Ranch, a young orphaned elephant calf was rescued after it had been sighted by a pilot from Wildlife Works in the company of five bull elephants. With the help of the SWT helicopter, the young milk-dependent calf was separated from the bulls and then led to a rescue team on the ground that loaded it into a vehicle and transported it to the Voi Stockade where it continues to thrive. Another young calf found alone and in a dehydrated and totally collapsed state in Tsavo East, was also rescued with assistance from a Trust helicopter and transported to the Nairobi Nursery. Sadly, the recumbent and far gone baby didn’t respond to the IV fluids and died within hours of arrival.
The most dramatic rescue experienced for a while by the teams involved a young rhino calf this month. The Senior Warden of Tsavo West requested that the SWT helicopter urgently assist in rescuing the rhino calf, which had been spotted alongside its dead mother, by a Tsavo Trust pilot while on patrol in a Super Cub. The calf needed to be rescued by ground teams and moved away from its mother so that the vet could access the carcass to determine the cause of death, which was later confirmed as an Anthrax case. KWS and TT had assembled 4 ground teams onsite near Ndawe in the IPZ and they were being coordinated by Nick Trent the TT cub pilot. Once the helicopter arrived onsite, the ground crews moved in to surround the calf but their movement through the incredibly thick bush alerted the rhino and he ran off giving them the slip. At this point the helicopter dropped in to try and turn the rhino around, who was running away from the rangers, however, it would not be deterred and continued running completely unfazed by the low-level blocking tactics of the helicopter. To make matters worse, strong gusting winds were tumbling over a line of hills making for extremely challenging flying especially whilst following an animal at tree top height. The helicopter lost sight of the galloping calf and spent the following twenty minutes searching the dense bush before finding it again. The Super Cub was directing the ranger teams towards the helicopter shadowing the rhino, but they were struggling to keep up in the challenging terrain. Several gallant attempts were made by the fittest rangers to tackle the calf but none of them could hold on to it for more than a few seconds.
Daylight was running out and so were the team’s chances of capturing the calf, with no ground teams in sight and the rhino still galloping on, a last-ditch effort quickly unfolded. With the Super Cub circling high keeping eyes on the rhino, the helicopter landed in a tiny clearing and dropped off Ben a K9 handler and Bakari the KWS Company Commander, who would make a final attempt at the capture. The helicopter lifted and was quickly guided back onto the rhino by the Super Cub and thankfully it was running towards Ben and Bakari’s position. Seconds later Ben spotted the rhino and he pulled off a spectacular tackle. Holding onto its midriff, he was dragged several metres through the bush before the calf was brought under control. The team then secured the frightened animal by putting a blanket over its head to restrict visibility, stuffed socks in its ears to block out the noise and tied its legs together. Once the ground crews arrived on site the calf was carried though the bush and loaded onboard the helicopter, with 3 rangers holding onto the feisty passenger. Whilst the rescue was taking place, Angela Sheldrick had been liaising with KWS and was given permission for the rhino to be flown to SWT’s stables at Kaluku. Taking off with just enough daylight, the helicopter made the short 15-minute flight back to base and were immensely relieved to offload the calf into the care of the waiting SWT keepers. This was a fantastic effort between KWS, SWT and TT in locating and rescuing this vulnerable calf under difficult conditions. Ben and Bakari’s brave actions undoubtedly saved the day.
Photographs copyright © 2019 The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust