Mara Mobile Veterinary Unit

Category: Life of a Vet, Wildlife | Date: Jun 25 2008 | By: asuka

Ranger from Mara Bridge, Barnabas came to me the other day to report to me that Mara stickers are not selling at the gate.

This is the sticker Barnabas is talking about. It was made by Japanese gentleman called Mr. Ogihara who wanted to sell the stickers to tourist passing throught the gate so that profit can be donated towards anti-poaching patrol fee. He sent us the stickers couple of weeks ago and I helped him make the poster for the sale which explains how Mara Conservancy’s ranger salary is paid through donation due to lack of fund and that we are in dire need of anti-poaching patrol fee through this sticker sale.

It is sold at Ksh1,000 ($15) and entire amount is directed towards the patrol fee. We thought it would be a good idea for tourist to bring back something memorable in return for their support. Rangers were quite excited and they said they were going to try their best to let tourist know about the situation they are in right now and that by buying this sticker he/she will be supporting the anti-poaching operation.

Solo (left) and Barnabas (right) at Mara Bridge with poster in the background.

Well, two weeks have now passed and rangers failed to sell even one…. Barnabas was in self pitty mood, telling me that they did explain about their need to raise the patrol fund through sticker sale, but the reply he got from tourists was “I am only willing to pay $2 for it”. And this reply seems to killed Barnabas’ enthusiasm in trying to raise patrol fund for his fellow rangers… Ok, I am trying my best trying to help with the Mara crisis which is lingering much longer than we have ever expected, but I am running out of idea for the fund raising! If there is any professional fundraiser somewhere out there, please give us an idea!

24 responses so far

Category: Wildlife | Date: Jun 24 2008 | By: asuka

Mr. Simon Trevor, founder and film maker of African Environmental Film Foundation is currently filming in the Mara Triangle. AEFF is an amazing organization which has produced and distributed series of 12 one-hour educational films about the range of diverse environmental and wildlife issues (available in English, Ki-swahili and African tribal dialect such as Maa (Maasai language), Ki-kamba, etc).

Here are films available from AEFF.

1. The Great Ruaha River
2. Elephants of Tsavo
3. Keepers of the Kingdom
4. Tombs below Aruba
5. Wanted Dead or Alive?
6. Running Dry
7. The Meanest Animal in the World?
8. The Walking Birds
9. Together They Stand
10. Black Rhino - On the Brink
11. A Keeper’s Diary
12. Natural Security

The Natural Security has some footage from the past on Mara Conservancy, but now Simon is filming exclusively in Triangle to make an educational film on work of the conservancy and their rangers!

Simon’s daughter Tanya also blogs with Wildlifedirect, Filming Wild.

6 responses so far

Category: Life of a Vet, Wildlife | Date: May 27 2008 | By: asuka

Yesterday, I went on a game drive in the wildlife reserve and we came across the most beautiful creature.

Puff Adder

It looks as though it has just shed its skin.

It was slowly crossing the road to disappear into the nearby bush. Its bright yellow scale pattern was so amazing that I could not stop myself but to jump out of the car to take a photo of this beauty.

During my stay at the Kenyan coast, I visited Bio-Ken Snake Park in Watamu to see what kind of work our fellow bloggers are doing. Their lecture on snake bite was so interesting and indepth, I recommended to tour operators in the Mara to invite the snake expert to give basic snake bite first aid. We all live in the bush, but I don’t think anyone knows what to do in the case of serious snake bite except for calling the flying doctor. So far one lodge has shown an interest in hosting the snake expert’s visit and we are trying to organize the lecture here in the Mara so all tour guides, drivers, lodge doctors and rangers can attend. After all, these are the “high risk people” for snake bite and I feel that it is very important that we have basic understanding on how to handle snake bites. I hope we can organize the trip for snake expert to visit the Mara soon.

2 responses so far

Category: Wildlife | Date: May 24 2008 | By: asuka

According to many people, this year’s wildebeest migration might begin early towards the end of June. Zebras are already congregating in the Mara Triangle and yesterday I witnessed around 1,000 zebras crossing the Mara River!

Nervous zebras checking the crossing point.

Crocodiles are feesting on the zebras.

Check out Kimojino’s flickr photostream for more amazing photo on crocodile feeding frenzy.

I just uploaded some photos on my flickr photostream.

4 responses so far

Category: Life of a Vet, Wildlife | Date: May 22 2008 | By: asuka

After weeks of absence from Mara, I just came back to my savannah home. My animals are all doing well, but the land is very dry and dusty. Precious water tanks are almost empty and we are now waiting for the rain.

With little tourists, the Mara Triangle is still quiet but animals in the reserve seem to be going about their normal business. I will update stories from my trip after I finish some report facing deadline…

2 responses so far

Category: Wildlife | Date: May 01 2008 | By: admin

I am on safari and just checked my email for the first time after reaching Mombasa. It is extremely humid and hot here…something I am not so used to.

I just noticed that wildlifedirect has started a “Stop Wildlife Poisoning” blog and video I took was on there. It is footage of paralyzed lion (Day 2). This lion was completely paralyzed from Day2 to Day10. It was then killed by passerby lion on Day10.

8 responses so far

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: 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

Category: Wildlife | Date: Mar 23 2008 | By: admin

Today my friend Naitoi, Mara Conservancy Ranger, came to say hi to me at my house. It was then he told me the story of how people were trying to kill a leopard yesterday. It has killed one goat and carried away another one, leaving owner with loss of two animals. It took long time for Naitoi and Warden to convince the community leaders to not to kill this particular leopard, which they have already started tracking down on foot in an attemp to kill it.

Since the financial crisis set in here in the Mara, one lion was killed in Narok side by Maasai and another lion was tracked down on Trans Mara side (saved by Mara Conservancy Ranger), and now it is leopard. The Maasai community living along the reserve has now let go of lion and leopard. People are not happy since they are losing their livestock, letting go of livestock killer and not getting paid for their financial loss.

In one year (2006-2007), Mara Conservancy compensated for 239 livestock attacks along the wildlife reserve border (150 leopard attacks, 67 lion attacks, 15 hyena attacks and 7 elephant attacks). Without compensation, all 239 cases could potentially result in dead carnivores.

5 responses so far