Report of incident with hyena in town

Report of incident with hyena in town

Hyena trapped in sewer pipe in the middle of town. Copy of report to parks copied below
On September 23 I received a call from a private citizen to come in to town as there was a big commotion concerning a hyena. On arrival at scene I found at least 300 locals standing around all making a lot of noise and excitement.

Ace appeared to be in control. There was a hyena in the drainage pipe across from Marina lodge. There were many wildlife officers on scene many of them carrying weapons. I saw at least 4. They had blocked off one end of the pipe with a cage to attempt to capture hyena. The other side of the pipe was unguarded and all the observers were standing around on that side. In the event that the hyena would have come out the open end someone would have been severely injured as the animal had no route of escape. Apparently the officers had thrown a number of thunder flash explosives into the pipe to try and chase the animal into the cage at the other end. I was not present for this but I was told they had thrown over 20 explosives in there.

In a situation like this if one or 2 explosions don’t work it’s not going to and a different approach should be used. I went to my vehicle to retrieve a flashlight to see hyena and in that period of time all wildlife officers had disappeared off scene.

I was never called for assistance or informed that they were going to leave.

I went immediately to Dr Masunga office to find out what was happening. He had just come in from the park and was not aware this was going on but informed me that he had received a call from the Director in Gaborone that someone had complained and the issue was been dealt with unprofessionally. When I saw Ace later he said that they would handle the situation before calling me. The next morning Ace called me and said it was ok to dart the animal.

I arrived on scene used a torch to locate the hyena. I darted it with a tranquilizer. After 5 minutes I crawled into the drain pipe and retrieved the sedated hyena. I had them load it in the back of the land cruiser and removed it off scene to the headquarters. The entire procedure took less than 20 minutes and there were minimal observers.

On examination of hyena at headquarters. It had both back legs broken below the hock and the wounds were extremely infected. It also had a broken right fore shoulder. I assume it was run over by a car. It had been in agony for a few days at least. My concern in a situation like this is if the animal was not severely wounded and was able to walk it would have come out of the drain pipe and hurt someone the day before.

In veterinary issues such as this I should be called out first.

Work On Lion

Work On Lion

First work officially for parks department. Lion was critically ill from various abscesses gained from fighting other male lions. Abscesses were lanced and he responded to treatment and was hunting the next day and made a full recovery to fight another day.

Impala that died acutely

 Impala that died acutely. 

We burned the carcass. Blood sample was positive for Anthrax.

 

Elephant Shot

Elephant Shot
First elephant that was shot at farm in Kazangula. Butchered in a few hours by perpetrators

Male Lion Down

Male Lion Down

Male lion down on the side of the road to Pandamatenga. His hindquarters were paralyzed. After tranquilizing and examining him, discovered he had been shot with a shotgun. 

He had to be euthanized. :(

Critically Ill Sable

Critically Ill Sable
Had to euthanize critically ill Sable that had paralyzed hind quarters and had gotten stuck in the mud. I suspect he was hit by a car.

Civet released

Civet released
Civet released that I rehabilitated after hit by a car

Tortured Lion

Tortured Lion

Neutered Male lion in Zambia. He was being tortured by 3 lionesses that he lived with, that were continually coming into season. They use these lions to have walks in the bush with them, as a tourist attraction.

Critically Sick Elephant

Critically Sick Elephant
Had to euthanize elephant that was critically sick from a lion attack to his hindquarters.

Elephant with snare on its leg attacks my truck

Elephant with snare on its leg attacks my truck

I was looking at her snared leg through binoculars and could not understand why I could not find her foot. I looked up and she was in a full charge. She had given no indication or warning. I managed to get away with a head butt to the back side of the truck and a tusk through the tailgate.

I came back to look for her but never saw her again.

Elephant with broken hind leg

Elephant with broken hind leg

Elephant with broken hind leg had to be euthanized. He charged me and gave me quite a fright.

SPCA Spay and Neuter Campaign

SPCA Spay and Neuter Campaign

Spca Spay and neuter Campaign. We used my clinic to sterilize over 300 dogs and cats.

Animals were spayed in a production line. Here they are waking up

Copy of article for newspaper

Tragedy in Kasane
It has been a year now since the extensive remodeling of the Kasane refuse dump commenced. An eye sore, as it is right next to the main road to Chobe, the most beautiful and wildlife rich national park in the world.  I have no idea what the contract entails for the remodeling of the dump but have over the last year seen mounds of dirt moved from one end to the other - there has certainly been a lot of activity. Unfortunately it seems that the procedure of dumping the trash on the ground has not been altered at all. I still see daily mounds of raw trash piling up in the center of the dump, quite visible from the main road.

This pile of trash is an extreme attractant to local wildlife. On a daily basis, flocks of Marabou storks and vultures frequent the site. Troops of baboons and mongoose do a daily pass through, sorting through the filthy piles. At night one can see packs of resident hyenas squabbling over the remains. Often honey badgers will appear. Large gray ghostly outlines of the mighty elephant silently move amongst the rubble.

A walk in the near vicinity of the area finds various types of wildlife living nearby. Waterbuck, Sable antelope, warthog and Impala are plentiful.  The usual smattering of elephant dung is extremely evident. Yet there is something very wrong here. Every pile of elephant dung for miles around has remnants of a very abnormal and obvious addition.  All colours, shapes and sizes of plastic are seen protruding from theses great balls of elephant dung.

Plastic being a man-made and almost indestructible and certainly indigestible material passes right through the digestive system of the animal. Unfortunately in some cases when this plastic builds up in the intestinal tract it will cause a blockage and obstruction that will impede the normal digestive flow.

This leads to an impaction and invariably to a long and painful death for this poor animal. One need not go into these details as the imagination can fill it in.

In the last year there have been 3 cases of obstruction in elephants where the animal had to be put down.  These 3 elephants were within the Kasane city boundary. One can imagine how many undiagnosed cases of elephants are to die in the deep bush out of sight of human eyes.

Fortunately in this case and early diagnosis by local veterinarians and prompt efficient response from the parks and wildlife department did not allow this elephant to suffer for a long time and was shot rapidly and humanely. A blood smear from it indicated it clear of infectious diseases and in this case the community was encouraged to process the animal and tons of nutritious meat was distributed. Due to the prevalence of Anthrax and the current outbreak due to extreme weather conditions ,and due to the fact , that  it is very infectious to people and other wildlife, this distribution of meat is a very rare and discouraged  in the absence of trained professionals and a well equipped laboratory.

I certainly cannot criticize that work has not been done to this dump.  My opinion is that only an electrified well maintained fence or wall will keep these animals out. I have no idea, but assume this is in the plans for the near future. One must realize that the most precious and valuable resource that we have in Chobe is our wildlife. It is the life blood of the tourism industry and we must do everything we can to protect and preserve this. Aesthetics of the surrounding area is a concern as tourists must get the right impression that we care for and love this beautiful country.  We as a community must stand together to improve our environment for future generations to enjoy.  

It is my hope that this project will come to a rapid and successful conclusion. In the case of at least these 4 elephants it was not fast enough.

At The Dump

At The Dump

Had to euthanize 2 elephants that suffered intestinal obstructions due to eating plastic at the dump. Hundreds of elephants died from this cause. It was impossible to walk in the bush and not see elephant droppings with plastic in them. I wrote an article for the Ngami Times pasted below and a week later the dump was fenced in and a problem that had been plaguing animals here for years was solved.

Plastic in feces