Mara Mobile Veterinary Unit

Category: Wildlife | Date: Apr 28 2008 | By: admin

Last week, I have spent countless sleepless nights trying to prepare a report and presentation for the paralyzed lions in the Mara Triangle. The toxicology tests came out and Brian from Mara Conservancy to present the case in Furadan meeting on Friday. Please check Mara Triangle Blog for more details on the report.

”The Mara Conservancy has alerted authorities after finding five hippos dead and observing paralysis in four lions which fed on one of the hippo carcasses. Toxicology reports on one of the hippo carcasses and a lion both tested positive for carbofuran, an extremely toxic agricultural pesticide. Further investigations have revealed that traces of carbofuran were found in areas where the hippos were known to graze.

The sick lions were first reported on the Mara Conservancy Blog on April 15th and followed carefully by the rangers. Brian Heath, CEO of the Mara Conservancy later stated: “The first report came in three days post-ingestion where a lion was found to be weak, staggering and sitting under a thicket. Another young male from the same pride began showing similar but more severe paralysis and quickly became recumbent by the afternoon. This was followed by a lesser degree of paralysis of two more males during the next five days. Tissue samples together with stomach content from the euthanized lion were submitted to the Government Toxicology Lab. The results showed that the stomach contents of the hippo and lion tested positive for Carbofuran.”

It has been crazy week for me and now I need little time to relax. I am off to coast for a week for a holiday and then I will be visiting Lion Guardians on my way back to Mara to get some advice on livestock compensation and predator depredation control. Sorry if I wont be able to answer comments after tomorrow, but I am sure Kimojino and Will from Mara Triangle will be able to address all the questions regarding the lion case.

5 responses so far

Category: Life of a Vet, Maasai People | Date: Apr 22 2008 | By: admin

Right now, besides from emergency things like finishing a report for paralyzed lion case, I am trying to organize my dog handler to attend “community animal health assistance” (course on basic veterinary knowledge and medicine). He has been extremely helpful in my work and it will benefit him in the future if he gets a official certificate from Trans Mara district veterinary department upon completion of his course. I really feel that it will give him more confidence in his work (as dog work in Maasai culture is something people look down upon) and community will look up to him when they know he is certified.

Lesingo has never been to school in his life, so he can neither read nor write. He also do not know a word of English (just Kiswahili and Maasai language). This means I have to arrange a course which is taught everything in Kiswahili and classes which comprises of practicals only so he can get hands-on experience instead of textbook course. I have been considering his request for long time, but it was difficult to arrange a course with other people due to his problem with reading skill (most people who consider attending this course can read and write).

I have inquired district veterinary department whether it will be possible for them to organize a course for someone who cannot read nor write. They told me it will be difficult, but just last week they gave me a quotation on how much it will cost to organize such a course. It will costs Ksh 33,000 (USD 550) which covers for his trainers (district veterinary officer and livestock officer) as well as their transport from district capital Kilgoris to training center in Lolgorian. Right now, I am tied up trying to raise funds to pay for Mara Conservancy ranger salaries for April. It will be wonderful if anybody can assist Lesingo with his course so he can get his first education at the age of 27!

7 responses so far

Category: Life of a Vet | Date: Apr 22 2008 | By: admin

After almost 10 weeks of long excruciating delay, the new car arrived in Nairobi yesterday. Thank you everybody from Wildlifedirect who has donated total of USD2165 towards the car purchase. I went there physically to check if this car really existed, and there it was…

Looking beautifull and robust.

I am extremely relieved that I did not sign a purchase agreement for an imaginary car. I can now pick the car, hopefully tomorrow after they finish with service. Since last week, I have been in Nairobi trying to finish my report on the paralyzed lion and my Suzuki has been giving me problem as usual. It has cracked silencer, squeeking bonnet hindges, unadjustable seats (I am driving with 2 cushions behind my back so I can reach the accelerator) and engine stalls when I drive on 1st gear. I left the car to be repaired on my last trip, but mechanic did not do anything for three weeks while I was away. It is about time to give my Suzuki a peaceful retirement.

Do not know why, but I am not jumping up and down in joy to have this car. Perhaps I was been lied too many times for the unexplained delay of 10 weeks and cannot get myself to be simply be “happy”. I guess I will be in much better mood when I actually pick up my car tomorrow.

6 responses so far

Category: Wildlife | Date: Apr 16 2008 | By: admin

As William wrote on Mara Triangle blog, we have been experiencing some crisis for the last two weeks with myserious paralysis of our lions (which is why I have been so busy and travelling many times between Mara and Nairobi).

Looks perfectly normal and alert, except for its limb function.

Paralysis starts rapidly, affecting the front limbs

After several failed attemp to move, it became recumbent in the afternoon.

KWS vet has euthenized the first paralyzed lion so he can perform post mortem and collect samples to rule out infectious cause. Mara Conservancy has been collecting environmental samples to rule out non-infectious cause for this condition. We are working in collaboration with KWS to find out what is causing this horrible paralysis in these lions so we can save the others. Two lions died (1 euthenized and 1 attacked by other lions), but other 2 affected lions seemed to have recovered and moved on somewhere. Other two females from the same pride seemed to be not affected but we have not seen them for some time. Please be patient as we promise to announce the outcome once all our sample results are out.

KWS vet team collecting blood samples from 2nd sick lion.

18 responses so far

Category: Life of a Vet, Wildlife | Date: Apr 13 2008 | By: admin

Sorry for my silence! I have been very busy, basically travelling between Mara and Nairobi (did 3 trips in one week!). I will be posting more entries next week, but I just wanted to share some photos I took with my new camera.

Mara Conservancy rangers posing for me during their patrol.

Beautiful Kijana (young boy).

7 responses so far