The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT), in conjunction with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) currently operate six Mobile Veterinary Units in the Tsavo, Mara, Amboseli, Mount Kenya, Meru and Rift Valley Regions. The Rift Valley Unit is the newest Unit, commencing operations in June 2021. Since inception it has attended to 113 cases involving 178 animals, the majority of which were snaring cases. Within the quarter, all six of the SWT/KWS Vet Units attended to a total of 185 wildlife cases.
Of the 185 cases, 77 cases were related to poaching and 20 to human-wildlife conflict. There were 35 elephant cases, 19 of which were related to poaching, including 4 snare, 8 spear, 5 arrow, 1 bullet wound and an elephant post-mortem where the findings revealed poaching as the most likely cause of death. In addition, 2 hyenas, 1 leopard, 4 giraffe, 7 buffalo, 40 plains game and 1 ostrich were also snared. A zebra and a giraffe were victims of arrow wounds and another zebra suffered a spear injury.
Nine lion cases were attended to in relation to human-wildlife conflict; 6 due to poisoning, 2 with spear wounds and 1 relocation of a problematic lion that was preying on livestock. A cheetah and elephant were also treated for spear wounds due to HWC. Two elephants and a buffalo were rescued from manmade holes, 1 giraffe was trapped in fencing and another died after becoming stuck in a cattle grid. A zebra was euthanised after it was inured after being chased by dogs and another was treated for a panga wound. A baboon was also trapped in a metal can but sadly could not be located for treatment. Other cases the Units were involved in included natural causes, collarings, rescues, research, relocation and a technical case.