Keepers' Diaries, March 2008

Voi Reintegration Unit

The 29th March brought a new occupant to the Voi Stockades, a baby duiker, found by a goat herdsman near Malindi (who reported it as a Suni) when his goats sought shelter under the shade of a tree abutting the forest, and the fawn tried desperately to suckle one of the goats. It seemed so starved of milk that the herdsman held a lactating goat to allow the fawn to feed, and then returned it to its hiding place, but the next day it was still there, and desperately hungry. He then took it home, and kept it for the next three months, feeding it on goat’s milk. Eventually, he reported its presence to the KWS Warden Malindi, who sent it to our Keepers at the Voi Stockades. Thinking that the fawn was, in fact, a Suni, we ordered that it be sent up to the Nairobi Nursery since Sunis do not naturally occur in Tsavo, but are plentiful in Nairobi National Park. However, upon arrival on the 4th March, we realized that it was not, in fact, a Suni, but a young male duiker. The Orma rescuer named the baby “Shungi” the Orma word for “Long Hair” because of the tuft of hair on top of its forehead. It remained in the care of the Voi Keepers whilst a small run was being prepared at the Nairobi Nursery, and arrived at the Nursery on the 4th March, very tame and aged 3 months.