December is historically a quiet month, and this year proved no exception. However, the Aerial Unit assisted with a small number of veterinary cases.

One of the most unusual cases the team has ever witnessed involved a bull elephant that had somehow slid his trunk over the end of his tusk. He then further complicated matters by piercing the side of his trunk and trapping it in place. A tour operator first spotted him three days before his eventual treatment, and the team ultimately required aerial assistance to locate him. Once the crew sighted the elephant from the air, the veterinary team — already searching in the area — responded swiftly. Guided to his location, they successfully darted him and freed the impaled trunk. Remarkably, despite losing the use of his trunk, the elephant had managed to continue eating, drinking, and breathing through his mouth.

The only other animal to receive aerial veterinary assistance was a giraffe with a snare around its neck. One of our pilots searched an area known for recent snaring activity and successfully located the affected giraffe. The team quickly mobilised a helicopter, along with the Voi KWS/SWT Veterinary team. They darted the giraffe and successfully removed the snare, and the prognosis is good.

An additional four bull elephants were sighted during the month with suspected arrow wounds. All appeared to be healing on their own, and the team deemed no intervention necessary. One of our helicopters also conducted a search for a suspected injured elephant believed to be bleeding and potentially dragging a leg. The crew located the herd in question and checked each animal thoroughly; however, they found no injuries.

The helicopter also assisted with the darting and capture of a rhino in Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary. The team selected this individual to be the first rhino released by President William Ruto during a ceremony marking the sanctuary’s historic expansion to become the largest in the world.

The team rescued one orphaned elephant calf by helicopter. Observers originally sighted the calf alone in Kimana Sanctuary with injuries consistent with an attempted predation. KWS Veterinary Officer Dr Kariuki first attended to the calf, treated the wounds, and subsequently requested a rescue. The helicopter airlifted the calf to our Nairobi nursery for ongoing care.

While human–elephant conflict cases were down overall, our helicopters did respond to a number of incidents. In total, the team attended to eight cases, and successfully pushed thirty-three out of thirty-four elephants out of community land and back into protected areas.

Our fixed-wing aircraft participated in two separate searches for missing children. Sadly, one search was unsuccessful. In the other case, the crew did not sight a twelve-year-old child from the air; however, one of our ground teams managed to track him for twenty-two kilometres through extremely inhospitable terrain. Over the three days the child was missing, he is believed to have walked considerably further, with only half a bottle of water. Miraculously, despite being exhausted, he was found in good health and reunited with his family.

Uncharacteristically for the rainy season, our pilots observed and surveyed two separate bushfires in Tsavo West. It is suspected that both fires had been set by illegal herders, with one consuming approximately 17,500 acres of scattered bush and grassland. While some areas of Tsavo received adequate rainfall, several large areas received almost no rain at all. Herders often burn grass to encourage fresh shoots and improve grazing for their livestock. While this practice can be effective in the short term, it often leads to long-term damage to vegetation and results in the deaths of thousands of rodents, reptiles, and birds unable to escape the fires.

Illegal activities observed during December included livestock incursions and charcoal production, with three active charcoal kilns sighted in Tsavo East along the Mtito River.