During June to September 2020 the SWT/KWS Sky Vet program was called to handle 10 wildlife cases all of which were supported by the SWT helicopter and fixed wing aircrafts to help with elephant darting operations, a translocation as well as search and monitoring operations.
8 of these cases involved elephants including, 5 poaching cases and 1 HWC case where a young baby elephant was hit by an electric fence and was rescued and taken to the orphanage. There was also 1 relocation of 7 elephants out of the IPZ Rhino Sanctuary as they were destructive to the habitat. Of the elephant poaching cases there were 1 bullet wound case, 1 spear case and 3 arrow cases
The other 2 cases included 1 lion human-wildlife conflict case where a lion was relocated with the help of the SWT helicopter after 1 lion was killed by the community in retaliation for livestock predation. The Unit also treated one snared buffalo.
Out of the 10 cases treated there was an 70% success rate. Without rapid veterinary response, the majority of these cases would have died from their injuries.