CWR/IWR IS AWARDED NON PROFIT STATUS IN USA

IWR/CWR IS AWARDED NON PROFIT STATUS IN USA!
EMPLOYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER 27-4148581
DLN 170530333O7021
As I understand it will take about 3 months before it becomes active on line. In the interim with the kind support of Patrick Webb form NWHS donations can go thru my ally

Baby Sable Antelope Rescued

 Baby Sable antelope rescued

Given yesterdays (4.14.11) frustrations, what happened that evening makes it all worth it. In the town about two hours away from Kasane (where Zeby came from) a farmer found a Sable Antelope that was separated from its mother. He tried to find the herd but had no luck so he was taking care of it. The Department of Wildlife and National Parks does not allow the general public to care for orphaned animals because everyone would be doing it (and who knows how the babies would be orphaned). So, it was decided that Clay (since he is a Veterinarian) would need to care for the orphan. So, we drove the 2 hours to get to the farm and actually found out that the original person caring for the baby moved it to another farm. Clay said it was 50 km in a different direction, it was a long way. Anyway, we found the baby Sable and I felt really bad to take him because the two children already bonded with him. They even put a bunny in the enclosure to keep him company. But we reassure them that when they come to Kasane, that they can visit whenever they wanted.. Sable Antelopes are such beautiful animals.

 

This is what Sabie will grow up to be

Rouge Elephant Shot Baby translocated

Rouge Elephant Shot Baby translocated

6/4/2011 Report of Incident 2 Elephants shot by PAC in Plateau Dr Clay Wilson

 I was called by parks on 2 occasions. One was a farmer in Panda that has a baby Roan antelope that he would like to raise. He thinks it was separated by his mother by lions in the fence. I advised him to try and find the herd and reintroduce him if possible. I talked to Chili and made him aware of situation.

In the afternoon I was called to assist in capture of a baby elephant. The story as I understand it is that elephants were in Plateau towns people live  and a Cow elephant charged a woman that was walking by. She dropped her handbag and elephant trampled it.

Problem animal control arrived on scene and went in to the bush were the elephant had ran to. Unfortunately the Cow charged out and attacked wardens that were on foot so they had no choice but to shoot her.

When I arrived on scene the mother elephant had already been butchered and there was a juvenile approximately 8 years old that a huge crowd of meat hungry villagers were just beginning to butcher. I have no idea how this second juvenile was killed. One report is that wardens in morning had hit it by mistake while shooting at the mother.

There was a baby elephant not 6 months old that witnessed the shooting of its mother and brother and was being chased by various citizens and children apparently all day long. The crowds of onlookers were out of hand and I’m surprised that no one was seriously injured. The police on scene were asked to disperse the crowd but they were not effective. It was truly a scene of chaos and illustrated the ignorance and non respect and appreciation of the wildlife that supports this community. The poor baby elephant was in such a state of panic and distress I’m surprised it did not expire from a heart attack.

Baby elephant anesthesia is very difficult, with all the experts in the field saying they have very high mortalities. I approximated the dose of M99 at 5 mg and after an hour long chase thru the bush and attempting to get the children that were just out of school out of the way, I managed to dart baby elephant.

It succumbed to anesthesia within 5 minutes. Concerned that I had given too much I gave it a one third dose of antidote the baby started to wake up and I was forced to sit on it to restrain it and give it some more M99. After another 5 mg given in 3 separate injections it finally was sedated enough to load on the back of parks land cruiser. I rode in back holding it down with 3 other wardens for the trip too Sedudu valley.

We unloaded and I reversed the sedation and elephant revived 100%.

I’m hoping that the proximity to water so it can drink and presence of other elephants coming to that pond that it will be able to be adopted by another herd. Otherwise its chances of survival are slim.

This was a very poor and sad expression of Kasane toward our wildlife heritage. I personally am disgusted

 

Baby Elephant Update April 7

We spent all day looking for baby elephant that we had to release because we don’t have a facility to keep such a needy animal. Hopefully soon we will be able to afford to build an orphanage. The official policy  of Parks right now is to leave animals in the bush for nature to take its course. In Chobe with 160 000 elephants this is unfortunately a common occurrence. With patience, education and by example we have managed to slowly change the mindset and the cooperation of relevant authorities to be able to rehabilitate injured animals for re-release into the wild. This takes a lot of funding, time and commitment. As many of you know CWR has been working very hard to attain these goals. Many of my FB friends have stepped up to bat to make this all possible.

As for the baby elephant released we have found no sign of him. We have scoured an area of over 5 kilometers all day today. There have been no vultures spotted that would indicate a death and the area where he was released has no lions at the moment that would predate him.

People that rehabilitate elephants know that its chances of survival are slim in this harsh environment with no mother to suckle milk.

I have to believe in my heart that a herd of elephants has adopted him. Many experts will disagree this to be possible. I have spent countless hours observing and mingling with elephants over the past 4 years. One thing that I do now is that they are loving, compassionate, intelligent family oriented creatures. Not unlike what a humans should be. I have seen many things in the wild that surprise me even after a lifetime of experience in close contact. This baby was strong with a will to live and was not injured (certainly emotionally traumatized) and unlike other places in Africa there are hundreds of mother elephants suckling and caring for their youngsters that were sure to come to the waterhole where it was released.

Elephants communicate and interact continuously. I’m not an expert but i would hope that a compassionate mother would have recognized its distress and taken him under her care. Often mothers will have a series of children 2 years apart that remain in the family group for life. I have often seen sub adults up to 6 years still suckle from mom and then allow its baby brother to suckle.

As in my experience these social creature will show many human emotions it is my hope that this baby may have got lucky. I have to believe this. I don’t think many human mothers would bypass a screaming baby dumped in a trash can?

I have often been told that something is not possible and that’s not the nature of things. That is my queue to make it possible and make it happen. This is my personal experience

If he did die it would be best in the majesty of the African bush that in the village where he was being persecuted.

In our search we came across a young bull with an extremely swollen hind leg. On binocular inspection it appears to have a gunshot wound. We were unable to approach it due to the vehicle being unable to traverse the thick bush we were in fast enough to dart it.

We will be searching for both elephants all weekend.

Until a proper facility can be funded and built to accommodate and care for these orphans CWR will continue to treat and heal all wildlife in distress to the best of our ability in the field and in our back yard.

Prayers said for baby elephants everywhere, may you dream with the angels.

Dr Clay

April 9 2011

There has been a lot of  upset on Fb about releasing the baby We searched in the  morning and afternoon with no sign of him. Many herds of elephants passed thru in the night and day so I’m hoping they adopted him. There were no signs of scavengers and no vultures which would have been present if he died. I had no choice but to release it. It would not have done well in my yard with all the dogs and the zebra and it would have broken thru the fence. I had to get it away from the scene of its mother’s death and being harassed by the locals. I’m not an elephant expert as i can’t know it all, but they are extremely caring, intelligent and loving creatures. There are thousands of mothers with babies that are suckling in the vicinity of where I released him and I believe that there is a possibility that one will adopt it and nurse it. I’m hoping to get funding to open a rehab center were we can bring animals from all over Botswana as Sheldrick has. I will then recruit them to help me learn what they have over the years. The one saving grace for this baby is that it was healthy and strong not like many that are brought to these sanctuaries. I have to HOPE it has a chance of survival. These are situations that crop up and one has to do the best one can with limited resources ,funding and the time frame presented. I feel bad that it had to be out in the wild on its own and am very aware it needs milk and care. In fact it eats me up inside and I did not sleep 3 nand am veryights in a row and I am muscle sore from tracking it and holding it down. I’m one person in Chobe trying to heal the entire park and have expended all my personal life’s savings into wildlife. I rely on donations from my face book friends to survive and continue doing this work. Unfortunately they are no other elephant sanctuaries in Botswana that have the resources that are required. I have brought up this subject with Parks and they are very supportive of it. If you could raise $100 000.00 I can make this come true. For now it’s day by day, life by life and situation by situation. People that don’t live in Africa cannot understand the complexities of what we have to deal with to get anything done. As Chobe has half the elephants in the entire world here a rehab center is most needed. I have the passion, will and ability to set it up and run it. What I need is some serious funding. I was quoted P25 000.00 to build a temporary Boma ( holding area) in my back yard of my rented house. I can not afford that . Lets hope no similar incident occurs before we can fund an orphanage.

Elephant that trampled soldier found

Elephant that trampled soldier found

All blogs that are in italics are from report to parks as their Official Veterinarian and Game Warden for Chobe

Report of Wounded elephant on tar road near Ngoma 29/3/2011 Dr Wilson

We were directed to 10 miles past Noghattsa on road to Ngoma. In a large open area were 7 bull elephants feeding. One had a very swollen right fore leg and was having extreme difficulty in walking.

No obvious wounds were seen so I darted it with Etorphine. We tried to prevent the elephants entering the thick woods adjacent by blocking them with the vehicle but were unsuccessful.

I followed as best I could thru the thick vegetation and had several mock charges from the younger bulls. Visibility was down to 10 meters and quite an uncomfortable situation. After discharging blanks from the dart gun most of the elephants retreated. I would not risk a foot patrol under these conditions so we continued to search with vehicle and luckily found the bull only 20 minutes after darting.

On examination a small caliber bullet hole was evident high up on his right shoulder. I believed this wound was survivable so I proceeded to administer antibiotics. My instinct made me turn around to be staring into 3 barrels of rifles pointed at me.

A BDF patrol had heard the blanks going off and thought we were poachers so they set up an ambush on us. Thank goodness they were well trained. This is the second time in less than 48 hours that I have had a gun pointed at me. (A policeman had shot an AK round over my vehicle the previous night as I was assisting Chobe 911 emergency call from a lodge nearby with possible intruders).

On speaking with the officer in command of this 4 man stick. He informed me that the soldier that had been killed by an elephant last week had shot at least 4 times at the charging elephant. This was information I was not aware of. They were on walking patrol of 4 and apparently a bull elephant just charged them. It trampled and killed one of the men. No other details are available.

The bullet size of the bullet wound and age of the injury coincided with the old bull we had sedated.

We decided that this may very possibly be that elephant and could not take the chance that it might injure someone again.

We euthanized old bull while he was still asleep.

Darting

surprise visitors after they stalked us

Being told that soldier shot elephant

Bullet wound

BDF Truck

It was a sad day that I had to Euthanize this elephant.This was a survivable wound. Most elephants in Chobe are not aggressive. It is my belief that this Bull had been exposed to gunshots before and it probably had a relative killed and when it saw BDF soldiers on patrol to catch poachers it recognized the gun and attacked him. I expect more incidents like this in future if we dont stop the poaching.

First day of Vaccination March 8 2011

First day of Vaccination March 8 2011

If you really want to get a feel of how life is in Kasane, review these photos. Today, March 8, 2011 is the first day that we were vaccinating the community (village) dogs in Kasane and Kazangula, Botswana. Clay’s group (Kasane) alone vaccinated over 180 dogs in 4 hours. We have 3 more days of vaccinations in different locations since most of the villagers do not have transportation.

Clay organized that Veterinary Services, The Department of Wildlife and Parks Services and a few of our friends all help in the vaccination of community (village dogs). Clay was able to procure funding from a grant from Disney, so there was no cost to the people that brought their dogs to get vaccinated against Distemper, Parvo, Rabies and worms. Some of you may remember that we did this last year.

The dogs seemed much healthier this year than the dogs did last year. For those of you living in the US, some of the pictures may seem cruel but most of these dogs do not have much human interaction and are often abused. So, all dogs needed to be muzzled to protect not only the dogs themselves but Clay who was administering the vaccinations and the individuals that were tattooing the dogs. We needed to tattoo the dogs so we would have a permanent record of the vaccinations. Information on how to treat your dog was given out in English and Twetsawna and people were very pleased that we went to this effort to educate the town.

We also had a couple of individuals documenting the dogs and owners information. I tried to also put in some “fun shots” so friends that live in the US can see some of the culture here in Kasane, Botswana. I had to take many shots of the children. They were just so adorable. I hope you enjoy the photos. We managed to Vaccinate 350 dogs in just these 4 days.

 Vaccination Photo Album At Facebook

View YouTube Video for info on Canine Distemper and impact on wildlife, and vaccination of domestic dogs in this project.

Wild Dog passes away

Wild Dog passes away
Report of Wild Dog Treated by CWR

March/7/2011

Dr Clay Wilson

Wild dog injured on road to  Katima   On February 21  2011     PAC brought in a severely injured wild dog male approximate lye 9 month old. He had been hit by a car and has a severe spinal injury. He suffered from a spinal shock condition called Sghiff Sherrington in which trauma to upper and middle neck vertebra re damaged and you have a very typical stance of outstretched front legs and paralyzed hind quarters.

The animal was in shock. An intravenous drip was place and shock treatment drugs were administered. Antibiotic and pain killers also. On resolution of shock we x-rayed his spine. To my surprise there was an old spinal fracture at t4 and t6 that had healed with bone spurs formation. Yes is exactly where he must have been hit again as it was a weak spot.

The wild dog was very placid and allowed me to treat him without any sigh of aggression whatsoever. I administered anti-inflammatories and a special drug form USA that regenerates cartilage on a daily basis. I use antacids such as Tagamet in IV to prevent stomach ulceration.

Within 24 hours the front limb extensor rigidity completely resolved itself. Over the nest few days he regained 40 % usage in paralyzed hind legs and was able to move around in the cage which was very rapidly brought from Panda by wardens for his enclosure.

The first 3 days he drank a lot of water and ate 3 large pieces of sirloin steaks. His bowel movements and urination were good. His entire body had been covered in scabs from being hit so hard and scraped along the gravel. He lost much of  his fur due to this, and skin was disinfected and topical antibiotics applied. I had very positive outlook that he would have a full recovery.

On February 28 dog refused to eat so we were feeding him orally with a high energy solution and placed him back on an IV drip

I did a full blood work and apart from slightly elevated liver enzymes probably to intensive drug treatment there was nothing wrong.

After 8 days he just decided to give up I saw it in his eyes. Dog survived for 2 more days and died on Wednesday the 2nd. I was with him at the time of passing.

Full autopsy was performed but no significant changes were seeing. I’m sure the spinal trauma was too much for him and the depression of not being with his pack all summarized to cause his demise.

He was a wonderful animal and this is a great loss to the wild dog community. I have fortunately seen a pack of 17 dogs recently while on patrol and there are all new prides of lions that have reestablished on water front.

I even saw the old one eye female lion that I had treated for severe mastitis a few weeks ago with 3 healthy and playful cubs. There is no doubt cubs and mother would have died if we had not treated them. This gives me joy.

This treatment attempt cost CWR in the Range of  P7000.00

Lions prides re-establish on waterfront

Lions re-establish in ChobeMuch to my utmost happiness 2 new prides of lions have moved in to Chobe waterfront. I have seen 2 large black mane males with about 5 lionesses and a Golden mane with about 4 lionesses. I have no clue where they came from but assume they moved in from Savuit of Zimbabwe. Without satellite tracking collars and genetic typing it will be impossible to tell. It is my hope that I can raise enough funds to be able to purchase collars and do blood testing for various diseases and get a data base for this important ecosystem. As you know it is my belief that last year’s residents all succumbed to Canine Distemper virus transmitted from infected domesticated dogs of Kasane.

I have 1600 doses of dog vaccine in my refrigerator awaiting the wheels of bureaucracy to turn before I can vaccinate community dogs. The vaccination program has been delayed one more week. I am thankful that I have seen no new cases other than the 5 I have seen in the last 3 weeks. It’s so frustrating working in Africa at times but the wheel will turn and we will vaccinate dogs. It was friend from face book that donated funds to make this possible. I apologize to you for not having it done yet. I’m sure it will be OK as I am not seeing explosive outbreak like last year and we will prevent this from spreading into wildlife predators.

We spotted a young male and lioness as we were n a game drive a few days ago walking out of the bush with their mouths dirty from eating. On investigation we discovered an elephant carcass they were feeding on. It was a female about 17 years old with no obvious signs on trauma. There were no wounds from lion scratches and no obvious wounds on side that was visible. No tarry discharges as seen in Anthrax. Cause of death unknown but I suspect it may have been poached.

On the way home a lioness crossed the road. It was old one eye. I have known this cat for over 3 years and had treated her for mastitis a few weeks back. To my utter surprise and happiness 3 beautiful cubs trailed behind her. She is very protective so we did not approach close to her. They are healthy and happy and amused us with their antics. The mother and cubs would have died if I had not treated her and it does my heart good to be able to make a difference.

I have added a few other pictures of the day, for fun