So lets just say this morning my back aches like the dickens! So we drove the 80 km to Ol pejeta to get to the lion. 20 of those were on back roads, bumpy. Mathenga (sp?) flies down the roads so I was convinced I was going to fly out of the back of the Landrover( bench seat in the back not connected to the front cab). We got to ol pejeta and realised that they had lost the lion. So we had another call at El karama ranch for a elephant. We then fly down the back roads again for 1.5 hours to get there. We locate the Ranch owners and go out to look at the female elephant. Immediately I could tell she was lame on her front left leg. However lame she was, she was still eating. She was very calm and seemed to be doing ok with herself. The decision was made to immobilise her. Mutinda very carefully started to prepare his dart (that could kill us all). I stop him and ask where the antidote is. He is most gracious that I ask that. He shows me. I then ask how he would like me to give it to him if something occurs. He smiles again and says "1 ml in the bum, 1 ml in the mouth, and then search for my vein and give me more" I question how much more. He says that I can't overdose him, so give as much as I can.
He then hands me a 50ml bottle of antibiotics. We had figured to give her antibiotics even if we didn't see signs of an infection, because there could be a small puncture wound somewhere that we couldn't see. It covered our bases. Timothy….Not sure I mentioned him.
He is just entering 4th year at Nairobi in vet medicine. His mum and sisters live in london. I offered to show him around when he comes to visit London in a few weeks time. He is interested in doing a Masters in Wildlife medicine. Very sweet guy.
So Timothy had a bottle of steroids handy to give the elephant once we got her immobilised. Mutinda went off in the brush and we had 2 vehicles to direct where we wanted her to stumble to. Did I mention that this was just after it down poured? I was soaking as I had not thought to bring my rain jacket with me in the field. It is now nicely folded in my backpack for the next journey. The rain was so bad getting to the elephant that we had rain billowing in, so Tim and I squished as far in as we could into the Land Cruiser.
So I heard the shot of the tranq gun and Mathanga (Matunda's driver and assistant) told me to get in the car because we were going to follow her into the brush as she decided to go the opposite way we wanted her to. We get to her and realise that the dart had not stuck. The ranch owner said he saw it hit, and then the fluid come back spraying. So Mutinda started work on preparing another dart. He and the ranch owner then went out into the brush and came back about 15 minutes later. The leg had no obvious signs of swelling, no wounds that they could see. It appeared that the leg was either an old break that was trying to mend itself in an odd fashion, or possibly a sprain somewhere. She would rock her weight over all of her legs as she was eating. Eating is good, it showed us that she was not in poor condition to want to eat. We made the decision not to immobilise her. The risk of getting her down and then the huge risk of getting her back up was not worth it. It was the right decision.
I was blown away at the closeness that the ranch owner (with gun) had us to examine her leg. Amazing experience.
We still need to go and see the lion once they find it again. We also have a crocodile in Samburu that needs attention today. The story on that one is vague and we are waiting on more details. Something about the croc in a pool. (insert laugh). I have not heard more about the rhino with the possible eye injury.
I am enjoying myself. It is great to see the people I knew before and also meet new people. The waiting around is what wildlife medicine entails. Even now i am looking up the best way to anaesthetise a crocodile.
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