Mara Mobile Veterinary Unit

Category: Dogs | Date: Mar 18 2007 | By: admin

Flea control for dog is non-existing practice here in the Mara. People meticulously spray/dip their cattle, but canine ectoparasite control is lesser priority for most. Sturdiness oｆ　Maasai dogs always amazes me. They have never been vaccinated, dewormed nor washed in their lives. Yet, they do not get affected by most of the tick-borne canine diseases which exotic breed easily succumbs to. They are indeed, true survivor.

Dog with half torn face after vicious baboon attack

During my stay, my Maasai friend wanted me to show him how to wash the dogs. He is one of the few people who seem to take care of his dogs. He showed me his 2month old puppy and complained that it had too many fleas and mites. ‘Severe flea infestation’ best describes this puppy’s condition. After washing the puppy, I ended up with more than one hundred flea bites all over my body. Nighttime histamine surge is now unbearable, waking me up at 12am, 2am and 4am.

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Category: Livestock | Date: Mar 15 2007 | By: admin

Today I accompanied a ranger who was visiting the boma where leopard had killed a goat.

Owner holds what is left of his goat

Mara Conservancy pays compensation to Maasai when the carnivore kills their livestock. Postmortem investigation is important to verify each carnivore attack. The distance between two canine marks is used to differentiate between lion and leopard attack.

Canine marks on the nape

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Category: Wildlife | Date: Mar 15 2007 | By: admin

Honey, mother cheetah with 5 cubs (now 3) has recently died. During my stay, I was asked to routinely monitor how her cubs are doing. Today I spend my afternoon watching how the cubs are doing and they are all in good health.

For more detailed information on Honey, check out the Mara Conservancy blog.

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Category: Life of a Vet | Date: Mar 15 2007 | By: admin

Once you are in Trans Mara, always be doubtful when someone tells you ‘hapa tu’ (it is just there). Western geographic description does not apply here in the pastoral land. 10km walk is ‘just around the corner’ while 50km walk is ‘bit far’. Even with a vehicle, Maasai connotation of ‘hapa tu’ is too far. I drive around looking for grazing cattle for 30minutes in the bush because the owner tells me herd is ‘hapa tu’. Then I switch off my engine in the middle of bush to listen to the cow bell, drive towards the sound, and the guy tells me ‘siyo yangu’(it is not mine). Finding my patient is one of the most difficult tasks here in the Mara.

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Category: Livestock | Date: Mar 15 2007 | By: admin

In the past couple of days, DVO (District Veterinary Officer) of Kilgoris town has dispatched their personnel to vaccinate cattle against Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in the Trans Mara. I was told that this operation was funded by FAO and the total RVF vaccine given to this district was 50,000 doses. That is very small number when dealing with pastoral community. ‘Tajiri ya ngombe’ (cattle rich person) can own 1,000 cattle or even more. Evidently, only some of the cattle were vaccinated while most of the community did not even know that DVO came to administer vaccine. The Trans Mara district covers huge area and human settlements are scattered wide apart. The distance between boma can range anywhere from 5-10km on an extremely difficult terrain. Even if the vaccine for entire Trans Mara district was given out free, actually administering them to the entire cattle population sounds like near impossible task.

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Category: Maasai People | Date: Mar 14 2007 | By: admin

In the midst of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) outbreak, most of the people in Nairobi are refraining from nyama choma (roasted meat). Kenyans are meat lovers and I find it funny when my friends are only ordering githeri (beans) for lunch. In Trans Mara, love of meat definately wins over the fear of RVF and people are still very much carnivorous.

One concerning thing observed here in the Trans Mara is the fact that people do not mind eating the meat from sudden death case. Cattle dropping dead from unknown reason does not necessary deter people from consumption of that meat. Although RFV has not yet reached Trans Mara, this is scary trend.

This afternoon I visited boma for dog vaccination and found people feasting on meat. ‘Is there any cerebration today?’, I ask. The guys tell me that they are ‘just eating’. I was later told by the wives that the guys were eating the meat because one cattle died during the night from unknown cause…

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Category: Livestock | Date: Mar 14 2007 | By: admin

The same guy who ended up killing his sick goats and sheep by injecting vaccine had yet another problem with animal. His calf has broken its leg and his traditional healing method is not working. The leg was bandaged using tree bark, very wet and covered by mixture of mud and cow dung. The calf was reluctant to move and the joint above the bandage was badly swollen. The bandage was too tight and it was cutting off the circulation. The tree bark must be removed and bandaged must be changed, otherwise the leg can necrose, I tell the owner He restrains the calf and starts removing his bandage. I was preparing a disinfectant and sterile bandages when I heard the owner’s loud voice. ‘Ime oza!’(it is rotten) The entire area he bandaged was rotten and broken bones were sticking out. He later tells me that accident happened 5days ago and calf had small cut on its skin at the point of fracture (which he refused to disclose to me earlier). I explained to him that his bandage method would only work if there is no skin cut because dirty bandage causes risk of infection. Also, bandage should never be too tight since it cuts off the circulation. I wish I could stay in the Mara instead of commuting from Nairobi so these kinds of things won’t happen while I am away…

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Category: Livestock | Date: Mar 14 2007 | By: admin

Today I spent the entire day in area called Kirindoni. After usual dog vaccination, I went to one boma to take a look at sick goats and sheep. The entire flock had goat/sheep pox. Skin lesions were evident and many showed respiratory signs. Adults were little bit well off but young animals were severely affected, some of them unable to move.

Kid showing severe respiratory symptoms.

The owner explains that he bought a dawa (drug) at Kilgoris town and injected the animals, but the animals are still dying. I asked him to bring me the drug he used and he showed me a vial of pox virus vaccine. His animals were already sick and showing severe clinical signs. Now he further aggravated the situation by injecting a live attenuated vaccine, killing 75 animals over 2 weeks.　　I explained to him that chanjo (vaccine) can only be used for healthy animal and does no good for sick ones. Most of the people don’t know the proper dosage or usage of drug, and the seller at Agrovet shop does not have proper veterinary knowledge either. I always spend long time at each boma explaining the properly drug usage/dosing for the drugs sold over the counter, which I think is the one of the most important element of the project so case such as this would not happen in the future.

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Category: Livestock | Date: Mar 14 2007 | By: admin

There are three bridges in the Trans Mara, destroyed Saparingo bridge is the smallest and located in the middle of the three. The most well constructed bridge is Mara bridge and thre is another bridge leading to Mararianta town in Koiyaki-Lemek (I don’t know the actual name for the bridge). This bridge is quite dangerous when the water level is high and flowing fast. My Maasai friend from Mararianta was washed away couple of years ago. It was miracle that he survived the ordeal since he didn’t know how to swim and water carried him up to hippo pool 2km away from the bridge.

Today, my friend witnessed a herdsman leading his cattle across the Mararianta bridge. I don’t know what made the herdsman decide that it was okay to cross the bridge since the water level reached up to his thigh. One by one, cattle jumped into the water and started crossing, just like the wildebeest crossing. When the cattle reached midpoint of the bridge, one bull jumped sideway. Since cattle have no idea where the edges of the bridge were, it jumped into the river without knowing. The water flipped over the poor bull upside-down before it was entirely engulfed by the brown water. Then another bull does the same thing and now two of the cattle were carried away by the water. The herdsman watches his cattle drifting away in the Mara river and the only thing he could say was

‘E-shomo…’(It is going…)

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Category: Life of a Vet | Date: Mar 14 2007 | By: admin

Last night tourist vehicle got washed away in the river. It happened at Saparingo, the point where I crossed the river previous day and broke my car break. The rainfall on top of the escarpment flows down the luggar from the top of the escarpment and floods this seasonal stream. It usually subsides in couple of hours, but the initial force of the water flowing down the escarpment should never be underestimated. Apparently the water level was low when the vehicle entered the riverbed. When the vehicle was at the midpoint, the water from the hill came down with such great force, it engulfed the vehicle in a matter of seconds. Luckily no one was hurt, and the shaken tourist was rescued by rangers and transported to nearby lodge.

When I heard that the Saparingo bridge was washed away, for some reason I assumed that only some portion of the bridge was washed away. Today, I took a walk to the bridge. I was shocked to find out the actual state of the bridge. Well, there is no bridge now. The concrete structure is gone leaving a huge gap between the bridge. I was told that a huge rock was carried by water and smashed the bridge into to two halves. That particular rock is now washed away further down the stream, almost half km from the bridge.

Saparingo bridge next to Kichwa Tembo

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