SWT Aerial Surveillance Unit Report May 2021

AERIAL SURVEILLANCE UNIT MONTHLY REPORT

MAY 2021

AERIAL STATISTICS

MAY 2021

128 HOURS FLOWN

16,918 KMS COVERED

AREAS PATROLLED

Tsavo East, Tsavo West, South Kitui National Reserve, Chyulu Hills NP, Kuku Ranch, KARI Ranch, Taita Ranch, Galana and Kulalu Ranches.

MAY 2021

MONTHLY AERIAL PATROL MAP

MONTHLY AERIAL SUMMARY May was an unusually busy month, especially for the helicopters, which saw an increase in human-elephant conflict (HEC) callouts over the previous month, and a significant uptick in veterinary cases.

A total of 13 HEC cases were responded to in May, a number of which were responded to with both SWT helicopters to increase the success rate. This was the first time that SWT had experimented with 2 helicopters, and it proved incredibly effective. The first such operation was conducted in a community area near Maktau bordering Tsavo West.

Two groups of 8 and 4 elephants were successfully pushed back through an opening in the boundary fence and into Tsavo West. On the same day, the helicopters attempted to push 3 elephants back into the Park to the north, where they had been causing unrest in the community. Two of the three were easily pushed back, however the 3rd bull became erratic and could not be persuaded to cross the line where the fence had been dropped. A 2ndattempt days later was also unsuccessful, as was a subsequent search by both helicopter and fixed wing. It is assumed that he eventually made his way back into the Park by walking around the fence.

The double helicopter strategy was employed twice more along the border of Tsavo East with 11 out of 14 elephants being pushed through a dropped section of fence on the first occasion and a few days later another 5 elephants being pushed back into the Park. After this, there was one report of elephants having been seen outside the Park, however searches by both fixed wing and helicopter were unable to locate the offenders. A search for 7 elephants reported in the community of Kishushe, conducted by helicopter, was also unsuccessful. However, at a later date the bulls were successfully found and pushed several kilometres away from the settlement and back towards a protected area.

Not all human-wildlife conflict involved elephants. Our helicopter was also used to try and push 5 giraffes out of a fenced area within Taita Ranch. These giraffes got stuck inside the fence when it was recently constructed and had reportedly been trapped there, without water for around 2 months. The first attempt to push them by helicopter was unsuccessful, however, the team returned and after removing a longer section of fence, the helicopter was able to get 4 out of 5 of the giraffes out of the fence. The following day, the 5th giraffe had joined the others on the outside.

One helicopter as well as a fixed wing aircraft were involved in the unsuccessful search for an orphaned elephant that had initially been sighted by tourists and later escaped an attempted rescue on the ground. Despite an extensive search from the air, the young elephant could not be located. Later on, we discovered that during the search, a tourist had witnessed an attack on the orphan by a pride of lions.

In terms of veterinary callouts, a number of cases were assisted by the airwing. Unfortunately, two of these had a tragic ending. One such case was a female elephant with a young calf that had been spotted on Kuku Ranch with an injured leg. Upon arriving, the team discovered that the leg was in fact broken and she was unable to care for her young calf. The vet was forced to make the difficult decision to put her down and rescue the calf, which was airlifted by helicopter to a nearby airstrip so that it could be collected by plane and flown to the Nairobi Nursery.

A second heart-breaking case involved a wild dog seen with a horrific snare wound on its neck. In the company of 12 other wild dogs, it evaded treatment for multiple days while both aircrafts and ground crews had repeated sightings but were unable to keep track of it long enough for a vet to get on site. Finally, the team caught a break and with a ground crew and helicopter monitoring the position of the dogs, a fixed wing plane flew to Amboseli to collect the vet and flew him to Ithumba. Once on site, an attempt was first made to dart the injured wild dog from the air, but this proved nearly impossible. With time running out, the vet alighted from the helicopter and continued to pursue the wild dogs by vehicle and was able to successfully immobilize the dog. The treatment seemed to go without a hitch; however, when it approached the time for the dog to wake up, it suddenly stopped breathing, and despite attempts by the vet to resuscitate it, the dog passed on.

The helicopter was able to assist in the successful treatment of two elephant at Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary, one with a snare wound and the retreatment of a young bull that was snared several months ago. Both elephants were given an excellent prognosis and are expected to make a full recovery. Another elephant was treated closer to home, in the Tsavo Triangle with a severe injury on its front left leg. It was suspected to have been caused by a vehicle on the Mombasa Highway nearby. The vet did all that he could but could only give the elephant a guarded prognosis. The final veterinary case assisted by the airwing was for a lion with wounds on the back of his legs. Originally sighted on the ground the lion was later located and darted from a helicopter before being treated by the mobile vet.

Livestock cases were on the rise in May, with the first major invasion in Northern Tsavo East for over two years. Cattle were observed moving towards the Tiva River Delta from more than 30 kilometres away before constructing temporary kraals to house a few thousand head of cattle. At the peak, 12 such enclosures were sighted from the air along with several thousand head of cattle, sheep, and goats.

Operations on the ground by KWS are ongoing, and although the numbers have reduced there is still significant incursions of cattle up to 43 km into the Park. Similarly, large numbers of cattle were seen within Tsavo West, with as many as 19 kraals observed in a single flight. This is an ongoing problem which is exacerbated during the dry season when livestock herders, having depleted grass on their own land outside of the park, seek the relatively intact grazing in protected areas.

No poached elephant carcasses were found in May; however, 3 very old elephant carcasses were located with ivory intact. Tusks were all recovered by various ground teams and submitted to KWS for safekeeping. Some signs of bushmeat poaching were observed with 3 fresh/recent camps sighted as well as 1 old shooting blind. However, no active signs were observed. Other illegal activities seen in May included 7 charcoal kilns within South Kitui National Reserve and 1 patch of marijuana being cultivated in Chyulu Hills National Park.

One of the Trust’s aircraft also flew to Meru National Park to pick up an injured baby white rhino thought to be trampled. Sadly, the calf had serious internal damage and didn’t survive.

Highlights included several sightings of wild dog and leopard, as well as a large pride of 10 lions, which was spotted on multiple occasions.

Photographs copyright © 2021 The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust