Zimbabwe Seven

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 16 2009 | By: zimbabwe7

Mufasa as as kitten

On 28 February 2009, Mufasa was released at Chishakwe Ranch which is part of the SAVE Valley Conservancy in the south eastern part of Zimbabwe’s lowveld. Mufasa was rather reluctant to just walk out of his new enclosure which had been his home for the past three months. It took us a lot of enticing to get Mufasa to the open gate where we had placed meat. However, once he saw the open gate, he grabbed a piece of the meat and headed off into the veld surrounding the enclosure. Both Nick and I had the telemetry a receiver so that we could track Mufasa. At first he headed north, which was not quite where we wanted him to go, but he needed to explore on his own. This is his first time into the wild and I had the privilege of being a part of that. Once we had managed to redirect Mufasa from continuing his exploration to the North, we left him for an hour to be on his own. Later that same evening, we went back out to track Mufasa. At first I could not get a reading - you can just imagine my panic, the thoughts which travelled through my mind! Has he been attacked, killed? After 20 or so minutes the “beep beep” was heard and my heart relaxed! It is one thing to hear the beep and quite another to actually locate the animal which you are tracking. But after a while, there Mufasa stood, totally relaxed and at ease with our presence. There was, lots to tell about this new adventure. So over the next 20 minutes Mufasa and I walked together in the bush. It does not get better than this feeling. To walk and observe an animal whom you have raised - finally being free and doing what it is that wild animals do, is priceless. With him spraying branches and trees and talking all the while, it made me realise that Mufasa was where he was born to be. He came back to the enclosures, called to Arwen and then trotted back through his gate and into his own enclosure. I followed. Once in his enclosure, he started calling and making a lot of noise. Pawing and scratching at the ground, very excited, and chuffing all the while.

Mufasa coming out of the crate when first moved to Chishakwe Ranch

Mufasa was hand raised by myself (Lisa) and obviously a bond had developed over time, between us. As a human, I am always surprised at my own selfishness in wanting to keep all the animals I raise - just so that I know they are safe forever, and that I know that every day they have food, warmth and what I think they need. But do we as humans really know what these wild creatures need? With each release I am sure a piece of my heart goes with each one of these animals, who have become part of my family. However, when I finally do have the joy of seeing them, walking freely in what is their new freedom - I realise that there is still, so much that we do not understand and that being wild is a gift beyond measure, which as humans, we can give to our fellow mammals, whom we share this planet with. Releasing is a very emotional step which I continue to struggle with even after doing it for so many years. Each animal who takes their first steps into the wild, makes my heart stop and my mind full of what can go wrong. It is so difficult being wild, when you are born into it. So to be captive born, with all the theoretical warmth and comfort that goes with that, and then enter into this new world, has so much against these captive born animals. Have we prepared them sufficiently, will they know how to react to all the new dangerous situations that they might find themselves in? Only time, will tell and we will be the first to report back to you re the adventures in the wild.

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 09 2009 | By: zimbabwe7

Our readers were equally as affected as we were here at the Tikki Hywood Trust when we were informed of the senseless murder of Twiza the giraffe (October 2008 blog) and then the brutal killing of the two bull elephants (November 2008 blog) who had been moved to the Chiredzi River Conservancy in the 1992 – 93 drought. Any death of an innocent animal can not received the right justice, in my opinion – however as a result of these deaths, there has been an outcome which we feel is positive and therefore would like to share this with you our supporters.

On the 16 December 2008, the Tikki Hywood Trust sponsored a meeting held at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management Authorities. This meeting included all of the stakeholders of the conservancies and other personal, involved with the protection of wildlife in Zimbabwe, The Wildlife Management Authority, Zimbabwe Reserved Police and the Attorney General’s Office. The Trust’s aim, to host this meeting was to get some results on the ground in the areas where there is intensive poaching,  as well as for everyone to try and work together to address the horrendous issue of poaching here in Zimbabwe.

The issue which was mirrored by everyone was that the anti –poaching scouts currently on the ground are poorly equiped. These anti poaching units could not, understandably go up against the poachers who were not only armed but dangerous at the same time. How could we expect the scouts to track as well as apprehend poachers who were armed with weapons like AK 47’s when they only had a panga (large bush knife) for protection?

The answer, was quite simply that we needed trained, armed personal on the ground with the authority to shoot, should it be necessary to do so. Each conservancy was allowed to state how many trained rangers from Parks and the ZRP they were allowed. As a result of this meeting, shortly after Christmas these trained personnel were deployed and to date are still on the ground in the various conservancies.

Today when I contacted Theresa ( she lives on Wasara Ranch which is part of the Chiredzi River Conservancy – Twiza’s family) to ask how things were going on the ground with the poaching? Her reply was “we currently have no poaching on Wasara!” With tears in my eyes I re-read and re-read that statement. Six months ago, most people living on the CRC were sure that there was no future for either themselves or the wildlife which still lived in that area.

So a little light has been turned on and animals are being saved. This is not too say by any means that there is not poaching elsewhere, in Zimbabwe, as there most certainly is. But this is one little star fish which has been returned to the sea. Many we find the strength to keep finding and throwing those star fish back one by one.

Above is photograph of wild elephants coming to interact with Teresa’s tame elephants. In this way the tame elephants can habituate and interact and get to know the wild herds so that they can integrate peacefully at a later stage.

Tags: , anti-poaching, hope

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Feb 13 2009 | By: zimbabwe7

On the 11 February 2009, Zimbabwe took yet another step in her history.  The signing of a Unity Government between Zanu - PF and the MDC, had finally been achieved.  We as proud Zimbabweans, wept with both tears of relief and joy.  We now await the rebuilding of our beloved country - Zimbabwe.  Each one of us, will now take a positive step forward with our heads held high and with our hearts over flowing with excitement.  For 10 years we have watch our land being burnt, lying fallow, trees being destroyed, animals being snared and tortured, both for food and money - in short each day slowly but surely our heritage was being lost and our hands were tied.

On behalf of all of us here at the Tikki Hywood Trust we would like to sincerely thank you, our supporters and the people who have stood by Zimbabwe waiting with baited breathe for a positive outcome.  Lets hope that this is that such outcome and together we can start rebuilding this land which we all love!

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 28 2009 | By: zimbabwe7

Dear Readers,

Well it seems like we have been quiet for the past few weeks, over the Christmas and New Year period, but believe us, it has not been restful! In the wonderful world of wildlife, there is no such thing as a holiday……….. Animals are really not bothered whether the 25th December is a public holiday or not…….

7th January 2009 was an interesting start to the year. We performed two contraceptive implants in two of our animals: Francis the female civet received a suprelorlin implant as well as Burma, our youngest female African wild cat.

The procedure was performed by Drs. C. Foggin and M. Peacock of the Wildlife Veterinary Unit.

To our knowledge, and to the knowledge of the company that produces the implants (Peptech P/L), these have never been used in African civet before.

At this point some of you readers may well be asking what a breeding centre is doing putting contraceptive implants in their animals??

As always there is method in the madness – and we will explain to you in each case:

Francis has had issues since her arrival at the Trust, as a young, tailless and very mixed up little civet. Her sense of abandonment was extreme and we had to spend a long time building trust with her. It has taken over 16 months to get Francis into a position where she now feels reasonably safe in her environment and so the next step is to integrate her with one of the males. Since she is still a bit sensitive, we would like her to get to know one the boys without the potential of breeding just yet as this could be too much to handle. For this reason, we decided to try a deslorelin implant, which has been successfully used in most felids. Francis has chosen Assisi as her new friend and he is more than willing to make her acquaintance, although they already know each other well through the fence between enclosures.

We do not know for definite yet whether this form of contraception will work in a civet, neither for how long. In felids the implant may last for up to 12 months, so we will monitor Francis closely to this end.

Burma was a straightforward case of temporary contraception, as she is about to be integrated with the youngest male wild cat, Versailles. We want them to bond without reproducing; so that by the time it comes to move them on to the Marula release site they are already paired. We plan for their movement to a release site in March, circumstances willing.

Above is a photo with Burma and the pulse oximeter sensor on her tongue!

At the same time that we did the implants in the two girls, we took the opportunity to knock Hasha, our elderly aardwolf out so that we could give here a thorough physical. Hasha was given a light morning cocktail of dormicum to make her relaxed enough for the next stage of her knock down. Chris Foggin expertly placed a dart in her rump and before long we were brushing and grooming Hasha and giving everything a thorough check. Her teeth are quite worn – which is to be expected for a 17 year old aardwolf. We are pleased to report that she is otherwise in fine health, although perhaps a little underweight in the hindquarters. We will subsequently supplement her diet with a bowl of pronutro at lunch time just to firm her up.

Other news – the bat eared foxes are growing daily. It has been a wonderful privilege to be part of this special time of them growing up; their individual characters are coming through now. Their coats are changing and not surprisingly – their ears are growing! At this stage the boys appear to have slightly longer ears than their sister.

We have had more hedgehogs born! This seems to be a headline for every other blog!! Another two hoglets were born on 20th January to Beatrix (who initially had two hoglets in October last year). Both babies are doing very well. We are now in a position to initiate a substantial release program for the hedgehogs which we hope to collaborate with a local secondary school in the area where most of them have come from.

And so, 2009 seems to have started pretty much where 2008 left off………Let us hope it brings more clarity and purpose to all our respective situations and put us in a position to keep doing what we are passionate about – saving animals and returning them to their natural environments.

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 01 2009 | By: zimbabwe7

Dear Readers,

Zimbabwe – once a land of hope, passion and prosperity. Today those have been replaced with dismay, chaos and poverty. In less than a decade, Zimbabwe has changed, and most certainly not for the better. How we continue to fight the good fight I truly have no idea. It is only thanks to so many of us who know and love this land we call home, that we are able to continue.

The turmoil and lawlessness still continues unabated here in Zimbabwe. We move from one horror story to another, poaching, snaring and mayhem is the order of the day it seems. However amongst the sadness, there have been some positive developments with the Trust. It is the end of the year and I fear that this newsletter could be filled with sad stories and this is not my intention. So this newsletter will not focus on outside matters concerning wildlife, but is restricted to our animals, who are oblivious of the goings on in the country and remain content in their own worlds, being animals, which is how I believe it should be.

TIKKI HYWOOD TRUST ANIMAL EVENTS: 

BAT-EARED FOXES

Our top story has to be that of the arrival of our precious Bat-eared foxes from South Africa. Born on the 11th October 2008 but rejected by their mother, I received a call from Ed Hern of the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve to say that the precious bundles were available for adoption.

A little bit of background to the Bat-eared foxes; Zimbabwe currently has nine species of wildlife which are Specially Protected by the Zimbabwean Law, one of those nine are the Bat-eared foxes. In 2001, the Tikki Hywood Trust, applied for a permit to breed these amazing creatures in captivity with the aim to release them back into the wild. However, due to the Trust’s policy of not taking healthy animals out of the wild, only taking orphans and or abused animals into our care, it has been a very long wait.

So yet another adventure lay ahead of us. On arriving at the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve, we were met by Ed and all the necessary documentation and permits were sorted and forwarded to the clearing agents at Beitbridge, so that we were not unnecessarily held up at the border with our very precious live cargo! My heart was beating so fast and my excitement at finally being able to meet with the foxes must have been apparent. At last I was allowed to meet our new babies. On entering a room, I could hear this very unusual squeaking coming from a card board box which had an infra-red light over it. As I peered into the boxes there before me were three tiny faces staring back. My first thought was at how tiny and I mean tiny they were. Not quiet 160 grams! Having mainly had experience with felines, I was expecting the canids to be larger! I went the day before I was due to return to Zimbabwe, so that the foxes could get use to me feeding them and to try and lessen the stress of being with someone new. My first feed was a total disaster and John, who had been feeding the foxes up to date, must have thought “what an idiot!!” The foxes were not at all happy with my new smell and the syringe which had been used to feed them was rather interesting to use, without drowning the pups! It was agreed that I would be doing the next few feeds before I was due to leave the following day. I am pleased to report that with each following feed I improved and the foxes were happier to be fed by me. That night the foxes found their way into my bed and by 2 am the next morning we were all set and ready to return home!

It was a long trip, 22 hours. A huge thank you, to Tim Paulet who was fantastic and very patient with my odd ways. The foxes behaved incredibly well on the journey. Every 4 hours I would mix the milk formula for the pups and feed them, allow them a little bit of time to run around the car before putting them back into their travel basket. The Zimbabwe/South Africa border was another story. Clearing on the South African side was a breeze, however when we arrived on the Zimbabwean side, things were not so smooth and actually challenged ones patience. There was evidence that the cholera situation was not improving and through every doorway we had to go through, a horrendous water trough, which I am sure carried worse germs than cholera! After an hour with a clearing agent things were not looking good. How we managed to leave with all the necessary paper work and the foxes not dehydrated due to the heat, two hours later was a miracle. The Zimbabwean border is most certainly not for the meek and mild or those of us who are impatient!!!

To date the foxes have grown and are now over 600 grams, three weeks after arriving in their new home!

This project would only have been made possible thanks to Tim Paulet and Bevis and Anne Smythe, who are now the official Bat-eared fox sponsors.

AFRICAN WILD CAT

With Zimbabwe in the turmoil that it is in, we have had to take a long hard look at all our projects and give them some serious consideration. What has become increasingly apparent is that our release sites are no longer as secure as what we thought or hoped. There are so many unknown elements on the ground now, with the movement of people in and out of conservancies and protected areas that we now have to rationalize any release to the highest priority of the animal in question. We have therefore decided to implant some of our African wild cat females with contraceptives to temporarily halt breeding. This would also help us with the enrichment and stimulation of the animals, so that male and females can be integrated in the same pen without the worry of babies!

So, with all this in mind we decided that Hooch was the ideal candidate for the first implant, since she was already a successful breeder and had in fact developed a deep and loving bond with Starsky. On Tuesday 28th October 2008, Dr. Chris Foggin together with assisting vet Dr. Margie Peacock arrived at the Trust to perform the procedure. We sedated Hooch with an injection and then Drs. Foggin and Peacock went to work putting the implant just under the skin between the shoulder blades. It was also a good opportunity to re-measure Hooch and check her teeth – which we are happy to report are in very good condition. Hooch recovered very smoothly from the whole procedure and was blissfully oblivious to the waxy cylindrical implant slowly settling into her system. By the 12th November we were confident that the implant was working and so we decided to re-unite the feline couple. It was a pretty anti-climatic re-union – Starsky seemed more intent in making sure there were no food items in Hooch’s enclosure, whilst she seemed more intent on making sure that Starsky still knew what a gentle “tap” from her velvet paws felt like! She was playful to start off with and initiated more contact than he did, but we are very happy to report that the pair have settled into a comfortable mutual co-existence and occasionally can be found napping side by side when they think no-one is looking!

Two days after the excitement of Hooch’s implant we had another African Wild Cat event – Versailles managed to get out of his enclosure and decided to visit India & Burma on the 30th October. The escape artist was discovered during feeding time, where he was sitting patiently at the gate to the girls’ enclosure. This presented rather a dilemma as he would not go quietly back to his own enclosure, it was getting dark so drugging him was not an option (as it would have to be oral and would take too long to achieve). Our only recourse at that point in time was to put him in the same enclosure as the girls. India was summarily removed as there was a potential that she would have fought with him. After several hours of waiting and gingerly checking at the gate – Versailles was eventually encouraged with a chicken to go into the enclosure with Burma. Ultimately, he seemed quite pleased with himself to have achieved this purpose and celebrated by chasing Burma exuberantly around the enclosure!
Once we were certain that he was settled and not going anywhere further, we had to decide on a plan to remove Burma, otherwise there would definitely have been little pitter patter of kittens’ feet. To achieve this, we had to drug Burma to catch her. She was issued with a little blue sleeping tablet (we use dormicum) in a chicken and once the drug started taking effect, she was wobbly enough for Lisa to encourage her into a basket to be moved.
And so the tale of Versailles’s self-initiated enclosure rotation ends on a happy note.

SERVAL

We have delighted in watching our little serval family grow. We have said it before, and say it again here that Arwen has been an amazing mother, very tolerant and totally accepting of our presence in hers & her babies’ lives. Evenstar has grown into a beautiful, confident male serval with a very happy go lucky disposition. His little sister, Quickbeam, is shy and more reserved, having taken on some of her aunt Shenzi’s traits (Mufasa’s sister). In late August we started rotating mother and kittens to the neighbouring enclosure to give them some different stimulation. This all went very smoothly, with everyone enjoying the new sights and smells and the kittens very quickly discovering favourite sleeping spots in the thick ivy.

Throughout August and the following month, we continued to rotate the serval. Whilst mother & babies were in the main enclosure, Mufasa would go to the dense jungle that we commonly refer to as our nursery. As to be expected – Arwen started to come into a regular oestrus cycle not long after the birth of the kittens and of course Mufasa could pick this up and was confused as to why he could no longer be with her. This caused some frustration with him and he would pace at the inter-leading gate. When we are faced with behaviour like this, we try to understand it and find a way of trying to stop it, not only for our own purposes but also for captive animals the world over. A method that we have found to be effective in these situations is to give the animal a mild sedative so that the whole situation is calmed down. Also bear in mind that these creatures are mostly nocturnal as well, so moving around in inappropriate daylight hours will make them even more agitated. In this case with Mufasa, we decided to use Valium (also known as diazepam), a well known human sedative and anxiety drug. What we have subsequently discovered, that valium has a not so nice side effect – it causes aggression in the feline species. So we have subsequently stopped using it and replaced it with a drug called rivotril which reacts quickly in the cat as well as proving to have no side effects.

The beginning of December saw the biggest move since the Trust has been involved with serval. The release of a complete family of serval. Mufasa, Arwen, Evenstar and Quickbeam have all been moved to Chishakwe into the Phase two of the release program. Chishakwe Ranch, in the SAVE Valley Conservancy is the newest release site, and we are delighted to have the support of Derric Wilson, L.J. Campbell as well as Nick and Sarah Greef and Rosemary Groom. Our human family is growing!

Releasing any animal into a new environment is certainly a very emotional step. When these helpless animals enter one’s life, you are never fully prepared to see them leaving your safe and secure environment and heading off into a new one, even though it is for the best and the next stage in their step into freedom. I never quiet understood my parents’ faces when saying goodbye to us at the airport as we embarked on a new and exciting journey into the big wide world. However, with moving the serval, I realised just how hard it must be for each parent saying goodbye to their special babies who have now grown up and are now trying to find their wings. It is all too daunting and there is so much that can go wrong yet at the same time so much that is wonderful, new and exciting.

The capture and collaring of wild animals is always a stressful affair. Hence here at the Trust we try to work on what we call a passive capture. With the use of Dormicum which is a human drug used primarily in people to help them sleep, the cats are subjected to less stress and it also has an amnesic effect, which means they have no memory of what happens whilst under the influence of the drug. So at 5.30 am on the 1st December 2008 all the serval were dosed with dormicum orally. They were then left for at least 40 minutes so that the drug could start taking affect. Arwen was affected the most and in less than 20 minutes it was very obvious that she was under the influence. The key with using this drug is not to rush it, and allow the properties of the drug to take full affect before working with the animals. Arwen was the first cat to go down and be sedated enough to place the collar onto and then get her into a box. The second was Evenstar whose hunger over took him and he chased after a piece of meat which was thrown into the crate. Quickbeam took a lot more persuasion but nonetheless finally moved into the crate prepared for her. The hardest serval to work with was Mufasa. Even though he had double the dose that was given to Arwen, the affects of the drug did not seem to be quiet as strong in his system as it had been for her. I did not want to drug him further as this would be more stressful as well as allowing a potential for more complications. So very gently and slowly I managed to place the collar onto Mufasa’s neck as well as secure it, amazing that these animals can develop so much trust with their human counter parts. This side of wild animals never ceases to amaze me; their unconditional love in those of us that work with them on a daily basis and perhaps this is one of the reasons as to why I have found it so difficult to let them go. After 20 minutes, Mufasa was collared and in his crate ready for the trip to Chishakwe.

Not only was this also the first time that we were releasing an entire family, but Ellen was in charge of the transportation as well as placing the serval into what will be their new environment at Chishakwe without me and making sure they were settled in this environment. She was calm, thorough and did a sterling job. On arrival, the cats were offloaded into a cool dark place and the enclosure was inspected. Like with anything new, there are always the odd hiccups and teething problems. The biggest worry at was the fence was not having enough voltage to stop interested predators such as leopards and baboons as well as the larger animals who might just be curious about this new environment such as elephants and rhinos. Thankfully due to all hands on deck and everyone working to the same end result, the fence was sorted and all worries were laid to rest. We have just received an email from Sarah saying that Mufasa has caught his first hornbill – this is the first step to the cats ultimate release and puts my mind at ease that the serval have started to adjust to their new environment.

HEDGEHOGS

Hedgehogs, hedgehogs and more hedgehogs! This has been the best breeding season ever with regards to the hedgehogs. Four litters by the end of November, totalling 16 babies born so far. And we are expecting at least two more litters before the end of the hedgehog breeding season which is February / March 2009. Gemima, Miss Tiggy and Beatrix have been incredible mothers, raising their babies without any human intervention – we are relieved to report.

So why have we finally had such success? Well I do believe it is due to a few reasons which I will point out below;

• Firstly, the diet is very important and from a near 80% carnivorous diet we have introduce fruit on a daily basis where their diet now consists of at least 70% fruit and 30% meat.
• The environment is totally controlled with regards to temperature and this I do believe has made a huge difference. Throughout winter we kept their environment at a constant 24 oC plus – even with the lack of ZESA (electricity). Hedgehogs are prone to respiratory infections and in the past we have had mortalities due to pneumonia. Apart from ring worm, we have not experienced any respiratory problems or other ailments.
• We have also kept the females separate from the males. When the females are in season then the males are introduced, but only for awhile during the mating and then removed. When the hoglets are born we make sure that the females are on their own and that there are no disturbances.

GENET

Since our last newsletter, we have released four genet! Rascal & Widget, the two young males were the first to taste the freedom of Gosho Park (located near Springvale School & Peterhouse Girls school in Marondera – see our newsflash entitled Spots & Spines) The release has been highly successful and the boys have been sighted since the release which is hugely encouraging. Following this, Munchkin’s two offspring of 2007, Este & Lauder, were the next to be released in the same manner as the two boys. So, on the 8th November they were relocated to Robyn & Andy Jouchin, where they were left to settle until the 30th November and were then released. Both releases were what we call “soft-release” where a door or window is just opened and it is up to the animal to decide to go or stay. We are pleased to report that neither Este nor Lauder were hesitant in any way – they went out confidently and we believe have settled into the sights and sounds of Gosho very happily. What has been interesting, is the two boys who were both hand raised, were more hesitant in leaving their new safe environment and once released kept coming back to that environment. Where as the naturally raised genet, went wilder in the new environment and once released have not look back.

The genet news certainly doesn’t end there. The two orphaned genet, Coco & Dior have been the subject of some deliberation since they do not have a strong future as wild genet due to their respective setbacks. A further complication was that both were maturing sexually, and Dior was having some rather unbrotherly thoughts about his sister! Since separation was not an option, it was decided that Dior should be sterilized. So on the 30th September, Dior had his operation at Chisipite Veterinary Surgery under the care of Dr. Claire Savage and Dr. Margie Peacock and their assistants. The whole operation was hugely successful and Dior’s recovery was very rapid. We are also excited to report that it was the first genet castration performed by Drs Savage & Peacock and certainly the first performed at Chisipite Vet Surgery.

Eight days later, Dior having recovered very well from his operation, both these little genet were moved to an outside enclosure (having previously only lived indoors with us). They adjusted amazingly well and even became more approachable to new people. Due to the fact that they had settled so well, we decided that the next step would be to integrate all the genet, so that they could also be rotated in their enclosures. At the same time that we did the implant in Hooch, we made a decision to try the implant in Coco as well – as this type of contraceptive had not been tested in genet.

It has to be said that putting the implant in Coco was not as smooth sailing as it was in Hooch. For a start, immobilizing a genet is not so simple – their metabolic rate is so much higher than a wild cat and they react unpredictably to various drugs. She was given a dormicum (orally) at first to make her sedate and then given ketamine and xylazine to knock her out. Once she was anaesthetised, the implant then had to be manually cut in half as the dose was for an animal of 5kg. It is inserted subcutaneously in the skin between the shoulder blades. There was a slight hiccup when the implant came out with the needle and had to be sterilized and re-inserted. However, this was done expertly by Drs Foggin and Peacock and then Coco was put in a recovery box until she came round. But, it did not end there for Coco, 24 hours after the implant was put in, she got very sick. Her temperature plummeted and she was lethargic and off her food. She was brought back into the cottage for a couple of days and was nursed back to strength. We still are not 100% certain what caused this problem but it definitely had something to do with the implant whether it was a secondary infection from the entry wound or the implant itself. There is a very happy ending to this tale though – both Coco and Dior are absolutely fine after their respective sterilizations and they are integrated with Munchkin and the three are getting on famously.

CIVET

Francis has been a case study since arriving at the Trust. She has developed and grown into a magnificent female civet, however she has not totally overcome her pacing and panic attacks. With this in mind, we feel that maybe by introducing Francis to Assisi, our orphan male civet, she might be able to learn from him to be more relaxed and to sleep when civet are supposed to sleep – during the day!
There are always little events that serve as gentle reminders (and sometimes not so gentle!) that we are dealing with wild animals that can be aggressive and unpredictable. Francis is certainly no exception, and there is nothing quite as terrifying as a full frontal attack by a snapping and snarling civet. On the evening of 17th October Francis decided to show her “wild” side when Ellen walked into the enclosure with a late evening snack for all the civet. Fortunately no blood was shed, but it has reminded us that even routine behaviours can give unpredictable results. Thankfully we can report that no love was lost in the incident and Ellen & Francis have made up, but we have come up with a new game plan with regards to Francis and her introduction to Assisi. Sometime in the first week of Jan 2009 we are going to put a Suprelorin implant into Francis for contraception. By doing this we can rather focus on her and the introduction to the male civet without worrying about the possibility of breeding. The implant should work for approximately 12 months, which we feel is sufficient time for her settle and hopefully Zimbabwe. We will definitely keep you all posted!

PANGOLIN

The pangolin has to one of the most challenging animals I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Nothing prepares you for being in the presence of a pangolin. Since my first encounter with a pangolin in 2000, I continue to marvel at these creatures. This most certainly is an animal that sees right into your soul. No wonder the elders of long ago – so revered this mammal, and deemed it so sacred that only a King or chief could receive them. Since the farm invasions and the Trust having to move, we have not been able to do too much work with the pangolin other than working on the transmitters and assisting in getting pangolins released from National Parks.
Thankfully, we have found Roxy Danckwerts of Chedgelow Farm, to be another person whose life is being touched by these phenomenal mammals. Roxy has a wildlife sanctuary on the outskirts of Harare, taking in animals who have been on farms that were invaded and orphaned animals who otherwise would have no where to go. Each animal is not only given the most amazing environment to live in but they are individual adored and taken care of.

On 25th August 2008 Roxy received a young female pangolin and immediately contacted the Trust. Due to the fact that we no longer had suitable facility to maintain pangolin, Roxy very kindly agreed to keep “Mbira” at Chedgelow Farm, as she has a better food source to maintain a pangolin – ants and termites! Each pangolin needs to walk a minimum of two to three hours a day to forage, so this is near impossible to achieve based in town. When we name an animal, a lot of thought goes into that naming. So what is “Mbira”? – in our Zimbabwean culture it is a musical instrument, normally associated with bringing rain which means bringing hope, or communicating with the ancestral spirits.

It seemed that our pangolin acquisitions were not going to stop there, on 22nd October “Tsonga: was delivered to the National Parks Head Quarters – another juvenile female pangolin. (Tsonga – African musical flute bow) We were contacted and asked if we could take her on, as she was too young to release back into the wild. Without hesitation I collected her from Parks and drove straight out to Roxy. On arrival Tsonga, appeared to be in good condition, just under weight, which is to be expected due to the time of year, and also we were not sure how long she had been in captivity. However due to their age, this underweight condition would prove to be the most challenging issue to face. Cape Pangolin, are by far one of the world’s hardest animals to keep in captivity and one of the biggest obstacles is their specialized diet. The Cape Pangolin just will not eat an artificial diet, even after trying the same diets which are used on the Chinese pangolin and the Tree pangolin both of whom are native to Asia, our pangolin quite simply refuse all substitute diets. Through our work with pangolin at the Trust, we have found that they need to walk in order to find their prey, (which consist mainly of ants and termites) I believe that the walking stimulates their digestive juices, enabling them to eat. Pangolins have incredible mouths & stomachs. The mouth does not open with jaws but it is tubular, through which a long tongue protrudes. The stomach is highly muscular, much like a bird’s gizzard, which enables the pangolin to grind up the insect bodies of the ants and termites that it eats.

All the Danckwerts’ and their staff have been truly amazing with these girls. Being such an intensive animal, each pangolin requires two handlers, so as they can be walked daily. These two have been giving everything a pangolin could wish for in captivity; a secure and artificially heated den complete with their own duvets, dedicated handlers who walk with them for hours each day and the love and attention lavished on them by Roxy and family. The Trust would like to extend a huge thank you to the Danckwerts family and all at Chedgelow Farm, for their support and dedication towards the future survival of this very important species – the Cape Pangolin.

OTHER ANIMALS

Even though the Trust’s focus is mainly on wild animals there have been a few domestic ones that have found their way into our lives. Frank, who is short for Frankenstein, is a chicken. Yes a chicken, which has spent the best part of his life contributing to ostrich research by having to give his blood daily. When I met Frank at the Wildlife Veterinary Unit, it has to be said I was rather shocked. I then asked Chris Foggin whether it would be possible for Frank to retire at Greenhills and live out his days that once he had reached an age where he could no longer be bled,. Being a man of his word, Chris let me know when that time had arrived for Frank to be retired and so he came home. What a chicken he has subsequently been. It has to be said Frank rules this roost.

On the 24th September 2008 – Frank was to get a true friend in the form of a young Boran bull calf who we named Tutelo. With the shortage of livestock feed and the continuous burning which takes place in Zimbabwe around this time of year, there have been many cows that have given birth but have not been able to feed their young. Tutelo was one of these such victims. Having never raised a domestic mombe (this is the Shona word for “cow”) it was to be yet another learning curve. Tutelo found himself in a wooden box right by my bedroom. Being a lot larger than the animals I am use to raising it was decided that he could not be litter trained at such an early age and that therefore the bed was out! One has to have some standards! Tutelo and Frank became inseparable and great friends, when the time came for Tutelo to move outside due to his weight and not being able to lift him into his night box, he and Frank would keep each other company outside in the new paddock which was erected for him. To date, Frank is still at Greenhills running the roost and Tutelo has gone to learn how to become a young bull.

And then came Barbatis! Late one evening on the 14th October Ellen found a young fledgling black-eyed bulbul lying on the floor outside. As it was dark there was no way of trying to find the parents, we kept him warm over night so that is how Barbatis came to into our lives. Pycnonotis Barbatis is the zoological name for these common garden birds but by no means was Barbatis common. Sharing anything from poached egg to macaroni, he was one of the happiest little (non-blue) birds we have ever met.

From the photo you can see that Kimba is growing! She has settled into her little family herd like she had always belonged there. She still definitely has only one tusk and it seems that this is how she is to be. This is one little success story that is a constant source of encouragement for all of us.

KUSANGANISA

2008, has been a very trying time for all involved in Kusanganisa here in Zimbabwe. At this stage, morale from teachers, children and parents are incredible low. No sooner, had we survived the election period and were about to take a breath, when the Government teachers started striking due to the ridiculously low salaries which they were given. These teachers could not even afford to go into town to cash their pay cheques and then get home again because the transport charges would be more than their salaries! So, after a lot of soul searching and looking at options, we realised that only way to keep the teachers motivated and teaching, was to subsidise them. It is with great pride and relief that I can report that during the country-wide teacher strikes, the teachers at the Kusanganisa schools stuck to their jobs and they all tried to maintain normality within their respective schools. With the year end exams, we were worried that not all the grade seven children would be able to write them due to excessive costs and the lack of exam papers being issued to the schools. Once the exams were finished, parents decided that there was not much reason for the children to attend school anymore with the country in its current situation and this has put a serious damper on our phase three projects. Without the children, the phase three projects like the cropping and the livestock programs have no real purpose, as it is the school children who are supposed to learn from them.
Perhaps with hindsight, we would have seen that we were overly ambitious with the Tobacco crop project at Nehanda School this year. High on the success of our onion crop, we first discussed the option of tobacco with the teachers and the parents, and there was much excitement as it is a commercially viable crop with good return. We were also going to have a constant source of advice and management of the crop through the Mashonaland Tobacco Company who were to assisting with the tobacco crop. After getting off to a slightly late start on the 4th November, the ridging and pre-fertilizing was done. It was at this critical stage of the crop that the Grade 7 children stopped coming to school. So without the children, the tobacco crop would not have enough labour to make sure the tobacco seeds would reach the critical 6 weeks stage without the weeds attacking them and killing them. After careful consideration and discussions with both the teachers of Nehanda and Chris Sheppard of Mashonaland Tobacco, we have decide to pull the tobacco crop for this coming season and focus on the next season.

There is nothing more bitter in the mouth that the prospect of failure, and I must admit that I have taken this collapse of the project rather personally. I was, wanting the horse to gallop towards the finish line so to speak, when actually the horse had a broken leg! The teachers of Nehanda School were way out of their depth with this project as none of them had any tobacco-growing experience. Added to this, the lack of support from the children, who themselves are only listening to their parents who are also suffering from the depression that Zimbabwe is in. To recover from the completely demoralizing aspect of the failed crop, we rallied together and put an incentivizing program for the teachers to grow their own maize at the school. This is at least a crop that they all know very well and better still – a food source for the hard months ahead. We will then have to concentrate on just surviving this coming year and making sure that the teachers are totally focused and introducing the importance of our environment, now more than ever, because our future generations need to know how to co-exist with their environment and not destroy it! There is no back up plan when it comes to Africa and the Government protecting the interests of her people. The people need to become self-sufficient and not always relying on someone else.

SPONSORS

As always, we cannot express enough gratitude to all the people who make it possible for us to do what we do here at the Trust. Without the help and support that you give us, our work would be extremely difficult and in many instances impossible. We hope that you feel as much a part of progress of the work with the Tikki Hywood Trust as we feel that you are.

African Genesis
Bevis & Anna Smyth
Buddy Mockford
Bushman Rock Estates
Chishakwe Ranch
Cipla – Dr Craig Mincher & Michelle Louw
Country Animal Clinic - Karin Wilson
Croplink
Danckwert’s Family & Chedgelow Farm
Drakemed Supplies – Albert Nortje
Friend Foundation
Graham Smith
Gunther Kerschbaumer – Gunther Kerschbaumer
Hermanus Vet Hospital - Michelle Lawrance & Lindsay
Irvine’s Chickens
Julian Howard
Karl van Laeren
Koala Park Abattoir
Kyron Laboratories – Candice Lamb
Louise Erhet
Mashonaland Tobacco Company
N. Tselentis (PVT) Ltd.
Paul & Kim Wolfe
Pegasus Homeopathic - Ian Wheeler
Richard Rennie Gallery & Framing Centre
Save Foundation Australia
South African Flower & Gem Essences – Janet Unite-Penny
Spar Ballantyne (Meyer Rick)
Stone Hill Sanctuary
The Donkey Trust – Ian Redmond
Tim Paulet
Willowmead Junction

3 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 15 2008 | By: zimbabwe7

Dear Readers,

We at the Tikki Hywood Trust are delighted to anounce the arrival of our three baby bat-eared foxes.  They were born on the 11 October 2008, at the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve in South Africa.  Ed Hern (Owner of the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve), knew that the Tikki Hywood Trust had been looking for orphaned Bat-eared foxes for the past seven years!  The mother of these babies rejected them and Ed had to take them away for their survival.

You can only imagine how delighted I was to receive the information about the baby foxes.  After all the permits, both CITES export and import permits, as well as the veterinary permits obtained, I went and collected the babies.  At first glance I was amazed at just how tiny they were.  Three faces peered up at me from inside their box, wondering who on earth was this new person now trying to feed them. The first fed was a disaster, thankfully the following feds improved and by 2 am the following morning we were all ready and packed for the long drive back to Zimbabwe.  The three babies who had already been named Khalahari, Sahara and Aryan, were settled into a basket and every four hours were allowed out of their basket and fed.  For such a long road trip 21 hours plus an hour at the South African/Zimbabwean border, all pups travelled very well with out any hiccups along the way.

Today all pups have put on more than three times their weight and are growing daily.  We are delighted to be able to report a positive story for once from this part of the world.  Each day throws us different challenges here in Zimbabwe, however as soon as you see these innocent faces of the foxes, your heart melts and you realise why it is just so important to continue saving our wildlife, our heritage.

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 18 2008 | By: zimbabwe7

Dear Readers

This post is not for the meek and mild.  As a follow up on the wounded bull elephant who was shot in the CRC, this was his unfortunate fate.  I have been working in conservation for the past 15 years and there is nothing that will ever prepare me for this barbaric practice of shooting or poaching wildlife.  Nothing, can change what has taken place, and there is nothing that can heal these wounds that Zimbabwe is currently experiencing.  These two majestic elephants who were in the prime of their lives - have been taken by mans greed and lack of ability to see into the future and save something today for tomorrow.

When I was growing up, I heard people talking about the next generation and what they will not get to see in their life time.  Well it has not even taken a generation to destroy the wildlife as it once was in Zimbabwe.   Areas, where I use to roam and enjoy the wonders of the wild are now being cleared for agricultural purposes.  Wildlife that use to graze within meters of a vehicle are now running for cover the minute there is any human presence and sadly the variety of game that used to be seen on any one trip has now gone.

The hardest thing of all to come to terms with, is that this massacre is being allowed to continue.  Without law and order in Zimbabwe, it will be near impossible to try and stop the poaching.  I fear that Zimbabwe is a ship in full sail, but alas she has got no rudder!

5 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 11 2008 | By: zimbabwe7

Dear Readers

Every time I seem to get a moment to write a blog – I feel bad that the news always is so heart rendering. Today’s blog is unfortunately no different. In fact, it is devastating and marks an end of yet another chapter in what once was in this country.

Wednesday last week, I got an urgent plea for help from Theresa Warth of the Chiredzi River Conservancy – (there are three conservancies in Zimbabwe and the CRC is one of those three). Shots had been heard and when they were investigated the scouts reported that two adult bull elephants had knocked over a rural hut in the community. I use the word hut – as it was made out of poles, mud and has a straw roof, so the elephant was not too know that that was a house at all. The bulls had not hurt anyone, when they accidentally had knocked over this hut. Anyhow the villager’s reaction was an unwarranted outrage as very little damage was done and no one was hurt. The villagers, reported to the local District Attorney who then reported it to Parks. This is the chain of authority currently in Zimbabwe. However, this seems to be one of the areas where the communications break down.

As soon as I got to hear this story, I felt deeply responsible, as those bull elephants had already gone through another tragic event in their lives, this was not the first trauma they had experienced – but would be the last! In 1992/93 Zimbabwe perhaps had experience one of the worst droughts in her history. Animals were seen dying in every part of the country but no more so than in the Lowveld. Thanks to a very dedicated and devoted man by the name of Clem Coetzee, elephants were translocated. Clem had come up with a way to translocates family groups of elephants. So for three months I was privileged enough to work with Clem moving these family groups, which totalled 689 elephants that were moved. The two bulls we are talking about were part of one of those family units. By 1997 the three different groups of elephants had joined together to form one herd. From 1998 onwards the cows were mature enough to have calves. Since then they have breed very successfully, some of the cows have had up to 4 calves, one even having twins.

Since the land invasions, the CRC has lost most of the bulls and two cows that they know of. Two calves, died due to snaring, there is one juvenile still with a snare grown right into her foot. On Friday the CRC lost their last two adult bull elephants.

These two bulls have tried to co-exist, and adjust to the new Zimbabwe. Being adult wild elephant, should they at any point wanted to harm man; they would have, with out a second thought. With daily harassment, and their territory being reduced now on a daily basis as the settlers start to prepare the land for agricultural crops, it would not be difficult for the elephants to hurt anyone.

With the Chairman of the CRC, together with myself we worked daily to inform all the necessary authorities. We also got everyone to agree that should there be PAC (Problem Animal Control) required, we would find the funding to translocate whatever the animal was out of harms way so as to save its life. From Parks to the District Offices, everyone was in agreement, that should there be any animals causing disturbances in the conservancy then they would now be translocated and not shot. Too many unnecessary deaths are occurring on a daily basis here in Zimbabwe and we need to protect each and every animal. Finally on mid day Friday, after letters, proposals etc, it was agreed the bulls would live and they would be monitored. If at all there were any indications that they were moving into the villager’s space we would move them.

3 pm Friday Afternoon – report came in that one bull was shot dead and the other wounded!!!!!!!!
How does something like this happen? For the past three days I have repeatedly asked myself what on earth happened? We went to every person possible, yet this still happens. There can be no justice either, as those magnificent bulls are now dead. There is no way possible that we can right was has been wronged. This chapter is now over – death is final.

One of the bulls………

One of the bulls with a cow in the foreground who is part of a rehabilitation program

The bulls surveying the herd from across the water…..

Foraging with the herd……

5 responses so far

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?

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