SWT/KWS Mara Mobile Veterinary Report for March 2024

SWT/KWS MARA MOBILE VETERINARY UNIT

9 Cases in March

March Report by Dr. Michael Njoroge

3 HWC Cases

5 Elephant Cases

The Mara Vet Team resumed duty with the intention of fostering health and welfare to the animals in this new and promising year. The Unit attended to 9 wildlife cases during the month, all of which were successful.

Two lions and an elephant were treated for human-wildlife conflict injuries; the lions sustained cuts from pangas whilst the elephant was speared. The Unit removed a snare from a zebra and remotely retreated a cheetah with an ear condition. The Unit also rescued an elephant calf, an impala and Thomson gazelle in two separate cases. An extensive exercise was carried out whereby 13 black rhinos were ear notched and/or fitted with horn transmitters.

Acknowledgement

he Mara Mobile Veterinary team greatly appreciates Elizabeth Scarlett for funding the Unit through the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. The team also thanks Kenya Wildlife Service for providing technical support and all the conservation partners who contributed to the success of veterinary interventions through timely reporting of veterinary cases and monitoring of treated animals.

Case Details

March 2024

Case 1 – 3rd March 2024

Lion Territorial Fights

Governors, Masai Mara

The Mara Vet team attended to an injured lioness in Governors area. Faecal samples were collected for parasites egg count and identification, blood samples collected for haematology test.

Immobilisation, examination and treatment

Guests at the little governors witnessed the territorial fight 4 days prior causing injuries 3,4 and 5. A humanwildlife conflict between the lion pride and herders who vanished in the early morning darkness was also witnessed by guides and tourists in the early morning resulting to injuries 1 and 2. The lion was darted from a vehicle with a dart comprising of 300mgs Ketamine and 4mgs Medetomidine She made no effort to disappear but relaxed. She was blindfolded and moved to vehicle shade on left recumbence. The lion had two sharp object clean cut to the forehead and right forelimb. The fighting wounds were sutured first in a simple continuous pattern. The human-wildlife conflict wounds on the forehead and right forelimb were administered 15,000mg Amoxicillin into the wound followed by Tetracycline wound spray. Systemically it was injected with 15,000mgs Amoxicillin, 30mgs Dexamethasone into different muscle sites. For internal and external parasites, she was injected with 40mgs Ivermectin under the skin.

Prognosis

Good- she is expected to recover fully with a very short time.

Mara Vet Team attended to a lion(male) which had sustained clean cuts on Sunday morning owing to humanwildlife conflict. The cuts from a sharp object were on the right forelimb and right hindlimb. The incidence occurred at the border of the Mara protected area and the community region in early morning hours of the previous day. It was reported that the culprits vanished in the early morning darkness.

Immobilisation, examination and treatment

A retreat was made to prepare a dart comprising of 300mgs Ketamine and 4mgs Medetomidine an approach was done using vehicle and darted successfully on the pelvic muscle. She made no effort to disappear due to darting but relaxed. She was completely sedated in ten minutes assuming sternal recumbence. She was blindfolded and moved to vehicle shade on left recumbence.

The cuts from the sharp object were on the left forelimb and right forelimb. Both wounds were sutured, and lion was systemically injected with 15,000mgs Amoxicillin, 30mgs Dexamethasone into different muscle sites. Topical antibiotic cream and spray were applied after the surgical operation.

Prognosis

Good-Monitoring of this and the previous animal still continues.

Case 3 – 5th March 2024

Elephant Spear

Mara North Conservancy

A bull elephant had a deep spear wound on the gluteal muscles and a minor arrow wound on the flank.

Immobilisation, examination and treatment

He was successfully darted from a helicopter due to the nature of the terrain with 17mgs Etorphine. After ten minutes, the elephant stopped moving and kept swaying from side to side. The ground team physically brought down the elephant by pushing him to one side. Unfortunately, in fell on sternal recumbency which is risky for elephants, but the team were unable to get him on his side due to his huge size and massive weight. The ground was also too marshy and wet for a Landcruiser to assist in bringing him to lateral recumbency. The vet therefore opted to do a quick treatment and reversal as both injuries were visible. The wounds were cleaned with water, then cauterized with Hydrogen peroxide and lavaged with povidone Iodine. Tetracycline spray and green clay was used as topical treatment. Antibiotic pessaries were inserted into the heavily infected deep wounds to deter any chances of reinfection. He was also given 30000mg of Amoxicillin and 50mgs Dexamethasone was administered intramuscularly.

Prognosis

He struggled to stand as his tusks embedded in the wet ground; the team assisted him to his feet and he was given a good prognosis.

Gazelle/Impala Rescue Ollaimtek

The team rescued a juvenile impala and a Thompson gazelle in Ollaimtek area. They had been rescued by the community.

Immobilisation and rescue

Immobilization was chemical for the Impala and physical for the Thompson gazelle.

Later on they were both taken to Nairobi orphanage for nurture and care.

2024

Black Rhino Spear Masai Mara National Reserve Candidates were identified based on their territories, individual attributes such as age, unique body features, size, companion, and sex. Once a suitable candidate was identified, where possible, attempts were made to drive and guide the rhino to a safe and open field area before darting. This preparatory step aimed to facilitate the ground team’s easy accessibility to the rhino post-darting and thus quickening the process.

Immobilisation and ear notching

The rhinos were captured by chemical immobilization through darting from a helicopter then processed by the ground team. Some of the key equipment and materials used during the ear notching included 2 Helicopters, 2 fixed-wing aircraft, 1 all-terrain vehicle, 7 Landcruiser pick-ups, 1 dart gun, immobilization drugs and darting equipment, capture slings and ropes. All rhinos were darted using a Dan-inject rifle with a combination of Etorphine Hcl and Azaperone Hcl. The dose rate was dependent on age, body size and terrain, (3.5 - 4.5 mg of Etorphine combined with 40- 60 mg of Azaperone).

Conclusion

A total of 13 rhinos (8 males and 5 females) were successfully ear notched and fitted with microchips. Eleven were fitted with LoRaWAN ear tag transmitters, only one was fitted with both LoRaWAN ear tag and horn transmitter and one fitted with only horn transmitter. This was equivalent to 65% of the targeted 20 candidates.

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The team rescued a young elephant that was abandoned.

Immobilisation and rescue

The baby elephant was found with a lone bull. There were no elephant herds or lactating mothers in the area. Four scouts managed to separate the calf from the bull and kept him safe under a tree until the vet could arrive.

He was then taken to the Nairobi Nursery via plane and was given a good prognosis.

Olare Motorogi

Elephant Arrow Lemek Conservancy

Attended to an adult female elephant in Lemeck conservancy with an arrow on spinal area

Immobilisation, examination and treatment

The elephant was successfully darted with 17mg Etorphine from a helicopter due to the nature of the terrain Once the elephant stopped moving, the ground team went in and physically brought down the elephant by pushing it to one side.

The wounds were cleaned with water, then cauterized with Hydrogen peroxide and lavaged with povidone Iodine. Tetracycline spray and green clay was used as topical treatment. Antibiotic pessaries were inserted into the heavily infected deep wounds to deter any chances of reinfection. He was also given 30000mg of Amoxicillin and 50mgs Dexamethasone was administered intramuscularly.

Prognosis

Prognosis is good.

Zebra Snare

Masai Mara National Reserve

A male zebra at Sekenani was spotted with a snare. The snare was probably from outside the park. It was around the neck though not tight and with no physical injury to the animal.

Immobilisation, examination and treatment

The dart gun was prepared with the 70mgs Azaperone and 6mgs Etorphine. While in the vehicle the animal was monitored until a moment presented itself for darting. In the right moment the animal was darted then we waited for 3-4 minutes for him to go down. Once down in a lateral recumbency, the animal was blindfolded.

The snare was untangled and cut; the animal was let lose after the administration of an antidote since no physical injury was caused by the snare.

Revival and prognosis

Revival was done using 200mg naltrexone administered through the jugular vein. The animal stood on four limbs and ran to the bush. Prognosis is good.

9 – 24th March 2024

Cheetah Natural Causes Masai Mara National Reserve

Attended to a male cheetah that had been previously treated from otitis externa after a territorial fight. Mild inflammation was observed today necessitating a second treatment.

Examination and treatment

There was no need to immobilise the cheetah as the ears are healing. Instead the vet opted to administer antibiotics and anti-inflammatory via 2 darts (remote delivert method).

Prognosis

Observation continues and the prognosis is good.

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