On the 11th of November the Trust funded Northern Mobile Veterinary Unit based out of Meru National Park headed by KWS seconded Veterinary Officer Dr. Bernard Rono was called by Save the Elephants to treat a well-known 30 year old female elephant called Alpine who was showing signs of emaciation, seemingly unable to feed and suffering from a huge swelling under her abdomen. When the team arrived on site she was showing signs of colic, extremely restless and throwing copious quantities of dust on her swollen abdomen.

She was immobilized on the bank of the river in Samburu National Reserve using M99. After her treatment the prognosis for recovery remained guarded.

On a follow up visit from the Veterinary Unit on 27th November Alpine showed improvement and had re-joined her herd. Yesterday, the  6th of December, Alpine was again spotted amidst her herd wallowing and frolicking in the Samburu river,  behaving normally, her swollen abdomen no longer evident, appearing to have made a miraculous recovery.