Tsavo Mobile Veterinary Report for June 2024

Published on the 15th of July, 2024

The Tsavo Conservation Area received low precipitation in June. However, some water pans are still full and both grazers and browsers have enough forage.

The SWT/KWS Tsavo Mobile Veterinary Unit attended to 13 cases. 9 of these cases involved elephant bulls of varying ages. 3 of these elephant bulls had spear wounds, 4 had injuries attributed to natural causes, and 2 were postmortem cases. Among the elephants attended to were 2 elephant orphans and 1 ex-orphan. At the Kaluku Nursery, the team treated an ill elephant orphan that was diagnosed with bacterial/ viral enteritis while at the Voi Elephant Reintegration Centre, they treated Ndotto who suffered a wound on the right flank after a tussle at the mud bath. The veterinary team also treated an ex-orphan named Chemichemi at the Ithumba Elephant Reintegration Centre who returned to the stockades, after being in the wild for a while, bearing a spear wound on the left hip area. Thankfully, all the orphans were successfully treated, and have since recovered or healed. The team also rushed to attend to an adult male lion in Dakota that was reported to be recumbent and breathing shallowly. Unfortunately, the lion passed on before treatment could be administered. The post-mortem revealed that the lion had swallowed a porcupine quill leading to acute gastritis and hypoglycemic shock. Lastly, the team successfully de-snared and successfully treated a giraffe and 2 zebras in separate cases over the reporting period.

Share the article