Mara Mobile Veterinary Unit

Category: Dogs | Date: Feb 25 2007 | By: admin

The prolonged drought forced the Maasai men to move their cattle near Lolgorian town, an hour drive from Kawai. Animals left in the boma are goats, sheep, dogs and cats. Most of my work will be vaccination of dogs and cats until cattle returns to this area.

Administration of vaccine to dogs and cats is a simple job which would normally take 10 seconds. That is, if the dogs are used to being handled by humans. Vaccination of untamed dogs which has never being chained or handled can be a difficult task. Maasai dogs not being used to mzungu (white person) is another problem. The dogs are happy to walk besides the herdsman, but they ran away as soon as anyone tries to restrain them. Most of the dogs run across the field, hop over the seasonal stream and will dash into thick bush. I have tried putting a chain on some dogs. Big mistake. The dog goes into panic. It bites, rolls and twists, bumps into object, and pretty much tries to kill itself. 　　Handling such dog without a proper dog catcher is too risky. Maasai are excellent in handling and restraining livestock, but they surely don’t know how to handle dogs. I was shocked to find out that their idea of dog restrain was grabbing two ears, or both front legs. Most guys will not even volunteer restraining their own dogs. They fear that the dog will retaliate and bite back.

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Category: Life of a Vet | Date: Feb 25 2007 | By: admin

Today I had to deliver a letter to Kilgoris town. One the way to Kilgoris, I got one puncture. Then on the way back to Mara, I ended up with an another puncture. Four punctures in five days. Maybe it is better for me to remove the tube from the wheel and buy a puncture repair kit for tubeless tire. Ｆix a puncture without removing the wheel from the car sounds like less of a hassle.

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Category: Life of a Vet | Date: Feb 25 2007 | By: admin

Thanks again for Earthview Ltd for lending us the radio for this trip. The idea of the radio was to be connected to the Maasai community scouts scattered along the escarpment. There was one problem. The setting of my radio was on ‘community’ frequency. After some static sounds, I hear the conversation between two men.

‘Sopa’
‘Sopa oleng’
‘Koree lomon‘
‘Maata‘

No one speaks Swahili on this line. They all speak Maa (Maasai. Language). I do understand some of the vocabularies and simple quotes in Maa, but nothing close to being able to fully communicate in Maa. Another problem with the radio was that scouts only switched on their radio when they want to talk to someone. Evidently, their radio is not necessary switched on when you want to reach them.

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Category: Life of a Vet | Date: Feb 25 2007 | By: admin

Mara is very dry and I am not seeing any animals in the reserve during the heat of the day. In December there were so many wildebeests seen inside the reserve but now they all proceeded to Serengeti, Tanzania. This year the drought is quite terrible and it is extremely dry and dusty in the Mara. I hear that Tanzanian drought is just as bad as the one we are experiencing here. The wildebeests are dying in high number in Serengeti, some even returning to Mara. Yesterday evening, it rained in the evening for a very short time. Today, long awaited rain returned to Mara with great force.

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Category: Life of a Vet | Date: Feb 25 2007 | By: admin

For this trip, Earthview Ltd has lent me a big canvas tent during my two months stay in Mara. After setting up the tent, I drove to Kichwa Tembo Camp to pick up the drug supplies which I sent a week ago. I didn’t realize that I had sent so many drug supplies. The boxes practically filled up the entire tent.　　I am much better equipped for this trip, as I came with an inverter so I can have some power in my tent. This would allow me to use my microscope and even some lighting at night.

In the evening, I once again hear the familiar rumble next to my tent and there was herd of elephant browsing the neighboring shrubs. Canvas tent gives me a funny false sense of security, almost making me forget that I am only have fabric material between me and the elephants. Tonight, I am not shaken up by their presence, I peacefully watch their gigantic bodies walk pass my tent.

Single bedroom house with a parking lot and 510 sq km garden

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Category: Life of a Vet | Date: Feb 25 2007 | By: admin

This week I have been sorting out the veterinary equipments and drugs for the preparation for another Mara trip. It was much more than I initially expected to be and looks like it is not all going to fit inside my small Suzuki. Thanks to Earthview Ltd and Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp, most of the load is going to be transported by Kichwa supply truck which is leaving Nairobi next week. Heavier drug boxes and camping gear will be carried by their truck, and my car will now be carrying more fragile equipments like microscope and surgical equipments.

Special thanks to for those who sponsored this trip, helping us with veterinary equipment purchase- Mara Serena Lodge, Kichwa Tembo Tented Safari Camp (CC Africa), Olonana Tented Lodge, Oloololo Game Ranch and TBS (Japan).

Tomorrow I will bring my car to a garage for fitting of the roof rack and also fitting tubes into the wheels. The project is still in our fledgling state and I use my personal vehicle for my trip. As I had several of punctures in my last trip to Mara, I decided to carry extra tube and wheel in an addition to my already existing spare wheel. Large four wheel pickup vehicle will be a great plus for the project.

A wheel turns into shredded rubber after mid savannah puncture. Acacia thorn pierced a hole in the tire, but since my spare tire was flat I had to drive another 10km to reach nearby lodge.

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Category: Wildlife | Date: Feb 25 2007 | By: admin

Due to lack of sufficient number of carcass presented for postmortem, it is difficult to decide the cause for the sudden death cases in zebra. The post mortem findings from zebra foal and topi could be incidental findings and there are not enough evidence for any epidemiological disease in the area. There is a need for further investigation of the case during my next trip. In the future investigation, there is a need to insist rangers/scouts on early reporting of the sudden death cases. The time lag between time of sighting and reporting posed problem in obtaining intact carcass due to predation by the carnivores.

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Category: Wildlife | Date: Feb 25 2007 | By: admin

Topi (female), adult – fibrinous pleuropneumonia, pericarditis and verminous pneumonia (Dictyocaulus viviparous)

Zebra (male), foal –helminthosis, parasitic hepatitis and gastric myasis due to the following species:
- Anaplocephala spp, (tape worm) –gastrointestinal disturbances, anemia, unthriftness, peritonitis and colic.
-Strongylus vulgari – parasitic thrombosis, arteritis, gangrenous enteritis and colic
-Strongylus equines –anemia, emaciation and diarrhea
-Strongylus edentatus –hepatic damage by the migrating larvae
-Gasptrophilus spp (larvae of horse bots) -erosion and ulceration at site of attachment and gastritis

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Category: Wildlife | Date: Feb 25 2007 | By: admin

Following were the observations from wildlife outside the reserve;

-6 lame zebras-degree of lameness varied from slight to severe ataxic level. Affected limbs ranged from one limb to four limbs
(include; 1 subadult zebra reported staggering and 1 adult zebra ataxic)
-3 adult zebra reported dead but was unable to perform PM (eaten by hyena)
-3 more zebra reported dead without external lesion after my departure
-1 adult zebra reported dead following hemorrhagic diarrhea
-2 injured giraffes (left ear and right hind limb around acheles tendon)
-1 impala dead (fight wound) punctured wound in abdomen and thoracic region

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Category: Life of a Vet | Date: Feb 25 2007 | By: admin

With one day left before having to return to Nairobi, I found it unfortunate that we did not manage to find any zebra carcasses which might lead me to solving the mysterious sudden deaths. Most of the zebra carcasses sighted were reported after the carcass had already been eaten up by scavengers and I was not able to do postmostem. In the last days of my stay, reports of dead zebra no longer came in. The zebra population found in the area seemed to be healthy with the exception of one or two lame individuals. Without a carcass, it was difficult to draw any conclutions on the case. Once back in Nairobi, the samples would be sent into the bacteriology lab to see what kind of bacteria showed up.

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