In the first quarter of 2021, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT), in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and their five dedicated field veterinary officers, attended to 115 wildlife cases.
Of the 115 cases, 25 cases were related to poaching and 23 to human-wildlife conflict. Of the poaching cases, 11 involved elephants which included 5 snared, 4 speared, 1 arrowed and 1 post-mortem with evident human involvement and missing tusks. There were 7 human-elephant conflict cases most of which were related to crop raiding and fence breaking, which is usually to access farms outside the Conservation Areas. One notorious crop raiding bull had to be relocated far away from human settlements. Other elephant cases included 5 treatments for natural causes, 8 post-mortems, assumed to be natural deaths and 1 rescue.
The majority of the non-elephant cases was for plains game, namely 16 zebras, 1 eland, 19 bongos, 2 oryx, 1 generuk and 1 kudu. 10 of the zebras were treated for poaching wounds; 9 snares and 1 arrow. 3 giraffes were also snared and another treated for an arrow wound. Sadly 1 of the snared giraffes succumbed to its injuries. 7 giraffes were trapped within a fenced area meant for crops. The owners successfully drove out 3 of them but unfortunately, the remaining 4 died before the Vet Unit could get there. 12 predators were involved in human-wildlife conflict in 10 separate cases. 2 lions and 3 hyenas were all poisoned as retaliation for livestock predation. 4 lions and 1 spotted hyena were relocated back into protected areas after the communities reported they were preying on livestock, another lion accidentally became trapped in a boma and had to be relocated back into the park and a 3rd was speared to death as revealed by a post-mortem.