Zimbabwe Seven

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 27 2008 | By: zimbabwe7

Dear Readers,

Snaring of wildlife is a daily occurrence in Zimbabwe, under these very trying and hungry times. There are many animals who manage to break away from snare’s anchor, but are then left with the snares wires attached to one part of their bodies or another, causing unbelieve pain and damage. Kariba is one of Zimbabwe’s top tourist destinations, with Lake Kariba being one of the world’s largest man made lakes. With the conditions we are living under here in Zimbabwe, it is very important that we all work as a team. “Operation Kariba De-snare” has been a result of such efforts. The Tikki Hywood Trust would like to sincerely thank all of those involved in making this operation such a success. During these difficult times the outcome has been a hugely positive one, from all involved animals and man alike. As a result of this success we now know that should there be any further reports regarding snared animals in Kariba – we will be able to put together another team to go and help out.

Below is an excerpt from Geoff Blythe account of the de-snaring done in Kariba. Geoff is based in Kariba and alerted us to the dire situation of some elephant calves that had wires on their legs and one had lost its trunk. From that first contact, we soon discovered that there were other animals that desperately required de-snaring as well.

I will now try to relate the events and follow up on these animals and their rescue as accurately and correctly as possible.
And basically it is thanks to Roger Parry and his wife Jessica, and the Wild Horizons Trust, and Lisa Hywood and the Tikki Hywood Trust, that it all happened and was a success.
Roger and Jessica arrived from Vic Falls on Saturday 17 October 08, by air on a private charter flight per kind favour of Sefafani Air ( part of Wilderness Safaris). They were very generous to donate the chartered flight to and from Kariba for Jess and Roger.
Roger had been in contact with me by phone after receiving my ‘plea for help’ e-mail. And it was Lisa Hywood who put us in touch with one another.
So when I introduced him to the other participants and assistants in the program, it was just a case of renewing old acquaintances.
Once introduced we formed a loose plan of action by asking all those involved to keep an eye out for the herd (elephants), and those prepared to go that extra kilometre, to travel to certain areas in the search.
To cut a long story short, from Saturday midday to that evening we had no luck……. having travelled as far as the Kaburi lake shoreline and the Nyanyana River by the glitterstone quarry in the east, and the old Breezes hotel ‘valley’ in the West. Anywhere there was water to be found.
I forgot to mention that I went up with Greg Hall in his microlite float plane early Friday morning to try locate the herd, and apart from seeing plus/minus 30 odd bulls, no sign of the cow herd.
Anyway, Sunday was a repeat of Saturday…. round and around we went searching.
At midday we got a call from the Scholtz team that the herd had been located – this was huge relief to all of us.
With the help of Dolf and Andries and Lamec Dzodzo and the National Parks Scouts, we were able to do the first job. Due to the high temperatures, we went with knapsack sprays, drums of water, drugs, darts, medical equipment and treatment, muti (medicine) for wounds, heavy weapons, bolt and wire cutters, binoculars, radios, flares, and a great deal of goodwill and hope.
While Roger and his backup team of heavies with the ‘cannons’ ( weapons, just in case of emergency ) went in to dart, we all hung back with baited breath and the rest of the equipment. The first dart went into a snared older calf we had not seen before. Into the ear, and M99 bursting out the otherside, meaning no effect. However, Roger had mistaken this animal for one of the other injured ones as it too had a snare injury on the back leg? So the follow up continued, and Roger, with great patience and deliberation, and in temperatures of 45 degrees C, reloaded, went in again, and succeeded in darting the animal in the shoulder this time. 8 minutes later down it went.

We all helped to remove the snare, do the monitoring of the breathing, heartbeat and temperature, spraying to keep the animal cool, and take measurements.
The wound was very infected, with copious amounts of puss oozing out. A hole in the bottom of it’s foot was also weeping as a result of the wound. An incision was made to try and get at the cable snare, but try as we did to get it out, no joy. It appeared to be deeply imbedded into the flesh. So much so that bone was growing over it. Roger decided not to try get it out, and instead cut it to release pressure. Great care was taken thereafter to clean and treat the wound and infection with long-lasting, broad spectrum antibiotics, sprays and betadine (povidone-iodine).

The little ele ( a bull ) had landed up on his side in a jesse thorn thicket, right on the edge of a small spruit/gully. After finishing the cleanup and rescue operation, he was turned over and sprayed, and put in a better position for recovery.
The antidote was administered, and within minutes he was up and away with seemingly no side effects other than being a bit wobbly on his legs.

All this time the rest of the herd had moved off. Mother originally had to be given a slight reprimand when quite naturally she refused to move away, and Dolf fired off a flare. Otherwise there were no hassles. Great relief to us all when we saw the little fellow join the herd again….. just as the sun was sinking and the day cooling. Thought was given to trying to do the other animal, but with light fading, it was decided to try again Sunday.

Meanwhile Roger, Nikki, Chad and I set off for NAU Charara site to get fuel, ( which Landie was almost out of) and to have a chat with Steve Kok of Charara who had reported that the Zebra with deeply embedded snare in it’s neck was on the floodplain opposite Wild Heritage.
Exhausted as we already were from the previous ‘lemon’ of an exercise, we set off to look for the Zebra.
Fortunately for us no walking was involved this time, as Steve took us right up to the herd, and there was the injured animal.
So while Steve went off to meet up with Lamec Dzodzo of Nat Parks who was now on his way from Kariba to help us with the operation, Roger, Nikki, Chad, Mosi and I went off to the Wild Heritage swim pool to cool off, relax and rest, and demolish a chicken breadroll each that Nikki had thoughtfully included in the icebox full of cold water. What a relief and pleasure that was.
When Steve and Lamec arrived, the operation to get close enough to dart the Zebra was on. What a mission that turned out to be, when normally one can drive up to within touching distance of the animals.
This time plus/minus 2 hours of gingerly driving up to the herd, which would suddenly spook due to the frisky stallions therein. Causing much snorting, farting and a great deal of frustration for us.
Eventually the first dart fired from within Steve’s little red 4×4….! To land smack bang into the bone of the animals tail. And no reaction from the drug.
So once again to reload the dart and start all over again. Amazing to observe Rogers methodical, controlled and expert handling of the deadly M99 drugs to us humans, but life savers for the wildlife.
Eventually darted, the zebra went down, and we were able to get in and cut…..with great difficulty…. the double strand of cable that was deeply embedded into the animals neck.

And a very serious injury it was. Half the neck and mane had been eaten away by the wire, leaving the vertabrae almost exposed from the top. How it had survived for so long with this dreadful and obviously painful wound is a mystery.
Anyway, with the snare eventually cut through, and the wound now cleaned and dressed and antibiotics and antidote administered, we watched with great satisfaction as the poor slightly built little zebra leaped up, whoo wooped a couple of times, and ran off to join the rest of the waiting herd.
During the time we were administering to the zebra, Greg and Andries had just been up in the microlite again and spotted the elephant herd, way out on the other side of the quarry. So off we set again into the darkening evening, to see if we could find and positively identify them. A call from Greg positively identifying the herd on the Nyanyana National Parks access road.
In we went and had them sighted within another 15 minutes from the ground. In a thicket of Mopani trees and jesse scrub.
This time there would be no waiting, so in went Roger with his ‘cannon’ weilding backup in Marc Van Zuydum and Andries, and ourselves carrying the boxed equipment and the Parks Scouts the Knapsak sprays.
Kylie and I hung back with Mosi, until the first dart was fired. A branch in the thicket caused it to deflect and hit the animal sideways. But no undue stress from the rest of the herd or the calf….. this time the little trunkless fellow.
So another follow up, and this time success. Thanks to the inquisitive little chap coming up to investigate Roger crouched down in the thick jesse.
As it turned Roger put the dart into its rump. Unfortunately the sound of the second dart upset the rest of the herd which started milling around restlessly. Difficult to see in the very thick jesse scrub.
Roger then reloaded with a second dart in anticipation of trouble from the mother.
When the calf eventually went down, all hell broke lose from the now very distressed herd.
They were charging around everywhere, and eventually found Roger, Marc and Andries approaching their downed baby.
To avoid unnecessary complications, I held back with Kylie, and watched as the team went in to try chase the herd off the baby which was now being “attacked” vigorously by the mother and the matriarch in an attempt to wake it and get it up and away. Kicking and pushing it, rolling it, trumpeting and screaming. Shots were now being fired into the air from the pistols and revolvers that the team were toting, in an effort to try keep the enraged mothers and herd at bay.
At this point Roger was left with no alternative but to put a dart into the now charging mother. From about 10 meters away. Right into the trunk. The sting of the hit very fortunately turned the charging creature.
She was now far enough off for Roger to get in and attend to the calf. I went in with cutters and medical box, dropped it off and then raced back to the Landrover to drive back the five minute trip to collect Nikki, Bronni and Chad and camera from home. ( Nikki had been downloading the previous pics and was waiting uplift ).
Once back at the site, literally ran back in with an extra 20 litre container of water (in case needed) and the camera to get pics.
Nikki followed up with the children and kept them all at a safe distance.
By that time the removal of the snare and ‘cleanup’ of the wound (which was quite ghastly, and worse than when we had taken the original pictures) had been completed, along with penicillin jab and antidote to the M99. The mother had gone down by this time, but no one in the team was sure where.
So armed with the antidote and the backup team, Roger went back into the very thick jesse bush combretum, located her, administered the ‘wake up call’, and from a safe distance watched while mother and trunkless calf, minus the snare, happily reunited.

In this case, due to the haste of the exercise, and the danger presented by the mother, matriarch, and rest of the herd to all and sundry, measurement and data were not recorded.
It was also decided, after close observation, that the final baby ele to be attended to should actually be left alone.
Reason being that from what they could see, the injury had very much healed over, no sign of infection, was not presenting the animal with too much pain and discomfort ( observed by the way it was walking ) and that it would most likely be like the first animal darted in that the snare would be too deeply embedded and subsequently very difficult to get out. Opening it up and trying would most likely cause more damage than good.
And so ended the saga of 5 days of footslogging, nearly 500 kilometres of search driving, hard work, patience, perseverance, and blood ( scratches and wounds ), sweat and tears.
And a broken back door window of my Tdi Landrover. Which happened while in the haste of reversing when it slammed shut and shattered. If anyone out there knows where I can get a pane of glass for the back door of a 1998 Landrover 110 TDi Defender, please let me know.
So to all those who put in the effort here ‘on the ground’ in Kariba….particularly Andries, Dolf (on the first ele darting) Greg (flying), Mark, Kylie, Donna, Nikki, Bron and Chad, Lamec Dzodzo and his scouts, Liz and Franz, Steve Kok for his help with the Zebra, and those who have kindly donated food and drinks to help with our shortage of ‘vittals’, a VERY big thank you. And to Marc Brightman for putting me in touch with Lisa Hywood.
To those who generously donated funds….particularly Cavin Warren, and the Biss boys from Avoca…..another huge thanks.
And the biggest thanks of all to Roger Parry and Jess, without whom we could never have started…..?
And of course to the Wildhorizons Trust and Tikki Hywood Trust. And Jonny Rodriguez of ZCTF for the fuel coupons.

3 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 23 2008 | By: zimbabwe7

Dear Readers,

 Agy wrote into us via the blog requesting assistance & advice on hand raising two week old serval kittens. We have posted the response here as well for the benefit of all our readers.

Hi Agy,

Thanks so much for referring to us – hopefully this information we are going to give you can help with your kittens. Please remember that we have adapted to what is locally available, so if you have any questions with regards to ingredients please let us know. Below is a milk formula that we have used :

150 mls long life sterilized milk
2 tablespoons full cream powder milk
vits & minerals (A children’s multivitamin such as vidaylin or pentavite – liquid form. Alternatively, any good cat multivit that a vet can recommend) at a ratio of 1 teaspoon per complete formula mix.
20 mls of fish water.

The fish water is something that we have come to discover at the Trust that gives the kittens an overall boost and helps with essential oils and minerals. You can use any fresh water fish, such as tilapia. You boil a complete fresh fish (including the gut content) in a pot of water that just covers the fish. The process takes a couple of hours, the water will take on a slightly gelatinous texture. This is what is used as fish water.

Milk temperature: The milk must be fed at the right temperature, too cold and the kittens will not feed comfortably. Too hot and obviously they will burn – test on the inside of the wrist, if it feels slightly warm on the wrist it should be fine.

Frequency of feeding: At two weeks old some of the hand raised kittens at the Trust were drinking between 80 – 100ml of milk daily, fed at intervals of 2 – 3 hours at a time, taking in anywhere between 2ml to 10ml at a feed. One sign to watch for is a very vocal kitten – if they are mewing a lot they are hungry or there is a problem.

Below is a picture of one of our kittens that was raised by his mother at two weeks of age – it gives you a size comparison.

During the feeding process make sure you stimulate the kittens to urinate and defecate, using warm damp cotton wool works but sometimes even this may be a bit abrasive. Watch for red and hot anus – this indicates that it is sore!

Weaning
If you are hand raising keep the youngster on milk for as long as they want to drink it. Up to five months. As soon as the teeth start to cut through introduce lean minced meat and chicken breast. If the kittens are lapping well off a plate you can mix a little of the meat with the milk to introduce them to the taste. You will find as soon as the solids are introduced the kitten will naturally wean him or herself off the milk.

We hope this information gets you off to a good start – please do not hesitate to contact us if you have problems, we would also love to hear of your progress with the kittens and how you acquired them?

2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 21 2008 | By: zimbabwe7

Dear Readers

Firstly I would like to thank you all for the incredible words of kindness and sympathies towards the tragic loss of Twiza.  To know that her death was for nothing would just been even harder to bear.  As an outcome to her and her son’s snaring, I had a meeting with our Department of National Parks and Wildlife Authorities, yesterday.  The Department has agreed to giving us another eight to ten game scouts for that area.  Having uniformed National Parks scouts in the area does bring about more respect for the wildlife as well as giving us more clout when going to the police with poachers.

We will keep you up dated with the situation on ground.

Lisa

6 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 19 2008 | By: zimbabwe7

Dear Readers and Friends of Zimbabwe

Today is yet another sore day, in Zimbabwe’s history.  I received the below photos of Twiza a giraffe who had been part of a family for the past 11.5 years and of her son who only reached the age of six months old.  Both giraffes were barbarically snared, killed and left to rot.  There is nothing that prepares you for the sight of a loved member of your family, strangled, dead and rotting.  I sat and stared at these photos trying to think of words which I could email to Theresa and try and ease her pain.  But if the truth be told - there are no words at the time of death.  There are even fewer words when that life has been brutally taken and when no justice is likely.

Zimbabwe is my beloved home.  The land where I grew up and the country from which I proudly take my nationality.  Today I cry - I cry for a land that now is awash with the blood of her animals.  Her land is burnt black and provides no food. For families who have been broken apart from distance and for all those who have to live with the visions of loss, such as Twiza.

Theresa, my thoughts are with you and I cry together with you and your family.  Twiza may you and your son, rest in peace.

Twiza was in the Lowveld, an area of Zimbabwe where I first learnt about the bush and the wonders of the wildlife that roamed freely in it.  In just my lifetime those images have already become something of the past.  What man can do in just 8 years is terrifying - the big question is “can we reverse the damage that has been done over these past 8 years!?”

TWIZA MY DEAR FRIEND OF 11.5 YEARS, STILL AS TAME AND FRIENDLY AS FROM THE TIME WE FED HER AS A SMALL CALF. SNARED 18TH OCTOBER 2008

THE TWO BOTTOM PHOTOS ARE OF HER 2 AND A HALF YEAR OLD SON, SNARED 2 DAYS EARLIER. THE WIRE IS ALL OUR EX TELEPHONE COPPER CABLES, THERE IS NOT A TELEPHONE LINE STANDING, ALL WIRE HAS BEEN AND IS BEING USED FOR SNARES.

14 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 13 2008 | By: zimbabwe7

After playing a waiting game of hope for nearly a year, we have woken up once again to find that what lies in front of us  is not a pretty picture, the hope and the ideas of development, have all but gone.  Instead, there is poverty, hunger, fires, hyper hyper inflation and a very low morale.

When traveling to the different projects which we are involved with through out Zimbabwe, we can not ignore how this hunger has hit every living mammal - from man to animal.  When man has to shoot his own livelihood in the form of his livestock due to the lack of food, you know that the situation can not really get much worst.  Most of Zimbabwe has been burnt and therefore the wildlife around Zimbabwe stands starving in the veld or dying.  The temperatures have started increasing and unfortunately there is no sign of early rains.

I have often heard people saying how cruel nature can be.  Right now we are having first hand experience of that.  On one hand you are privileged enough to see the beautiful colours in the Jacarandas, bougainvillea creepers, coral trees and then in contrast the straw coloured grasses.  Just when your mind starts to wander and you tell yourself how lucky you are to be apart of this amazing industry called conservation, you blink and the colours turn to orange flames and charred, burnt veld, which results in stravation for the animals.

Right now there are so many issues that need to be addressed and no light at the end of the tunnel for the wildlife, livestock and people of this country.   The frustration is paramount and with so many crisis’s to deal with it is hard to know which one to start with first.  We at the Trust are here and here to stay, it is important for us to know that  you the readers understand this.  As always we thank you for your support!

5 responses so far