Tsavo Mobile Veterinary Unit - March 2006

March started with the rescue of a young waterbuck on the 1st near Luggards falls in Tsavo East

March started with the rescue of a young waterbuck on the 1st near Luggards falls in Tsavo East. It looked healthy at the time of the rescue but it died two weeks after at the Voi elephant stockade from undetermined cause.

Then on the 3rd we received the report of a limping elephant near Aruba dam in Tsavo east. The elephant is however lame due to a deformity of the right hind leg resulting from a malunited fracture sustained a long time ago.

It was not manifesting any signs of pain and was bearing its full weight on the leg. Four other elephants with similar deformities have been seen before and reported in our previous reports.

The last report in March was on the 7th from Amboseli of an eight-year-old male elephant with a fresh spear wound on the left abdomen. The wound was penetrating the abdominal cavity and a portion of the intestines was protruding.

We found the animal had already succumbed to the injury, which had been complicated further by the tearing of the protruding portion of the intestines by thorns and tree branches.