The patient was initially a human-wildlife conflict case: He had taken up residence on community land, so the SWT helicopter was sent to shepherd him back to the safety of Tsavo East National Park. In the process, our pilot noticed something amiss with his trunk. We quickly realised it was a poacher’s snare, cinched tight.

The SWT/KWS Tsavo Mobile Vet Unit rushed to the scene and, with support from our Aerial Unit, darted the patient. From there, treatment was swift and straightforward. The snare had been in place for at least three months, and in that time, the resultant wound had completely healed over.

The grisly truth is that the snare would only have come off when it took the elephant’s trunk with it. When we removed the wire, it had tightened to just a few inches in circumference. Yet this elephant was a young adult — with plenty of growing left to do. As he reaches full size, his trunk will triple or quadruple in circumference. But with a snare constricting its growth, the lower half of the trunk would have been left hanging by a narrow strip, which ultimately would have caused it to fall off. Now, with the snare removed, his trunk can grow normally, even if it always bears lasting battle scars.

Fortunately, a single snip of the snare was all it took to save the trunk. An African elephant’s trunk is a feat of natural engineering, with over 40,000 muscles that allow it to function even with holes or scar tissue. This muscular complexity also keeps the trunk in constant motion, which is why sutures would never hold — nor were they necessary, as there was no open wound to close.

Despite the gravity of the injury, the elephant is breathing, eating, and drinking as he should. Even with lasting damage to the trunk, he will be able to lead a full and healthy life. Our very own Enkesha, an orphan who suffered a snared trunk as a baby, can attest to this.