The tallest land mammals are characteristic of the African savannah as they stand tall in the wilderness of the plains. However, populations of giraffes are declining fast due to poaching for bush meat. Giraffes are a target species for the snarers in Naivasha as the town is a haven for the animals. The ANAW rescue team in collaboration with the KWS Veterinary Unit from the headquarters attended to a male giraffe with a snare tethered on a tree at Hell’s Gate National Park. The giraffe was sighted by a KK security guard manning geothermal pipeline in the area who alerted Hells Gate National Park KWS team. The vet darted the animal, the snare was removed, and the animal revived then administered with antibiotics.

Later in the month, ANAW rescue team in partnership with KWS Veterinary Unit from the headquarters, KWS Machakos and Manzoni ranch scouts attended to a female zebra with a snare on its right hind foot at Manzoni ranch in Machakos County. The snare was safely removed from the animal, wound cleaned and animal medicated with long-acting antibiotic before it was successfully released back to the wild.

An eland in distress was reported to have an injured leg at Maanzoni. On arrival, the eland was in severe pain and immobile. Due to the severe extent of damage and level of pain the eland was in, a humane decision was made to euthanize the animal and end its suffering.

Rescues also took place during desnaring exercise. Two zebras were attended to through the help of Naivasha resident KWS and Sheldrick Trust Veterinary Unit. The first was a sub adult Zebra that had a snare at Kenya Nut neighbouring Kigio Conservancy while the second was a zebra with severe lameness at Nini Flower Farm.

One of the zebras was quite lame and could be seen leg carrying. The zebra was attended by successfully removing the wire that had tissue grown over it and wound cleaned. The second zebra experienced severe lameness on the left hind limb was carried out at Nini Flower Farm. The animal had difficulty walking. On immobilization, an old, infected cut was found. The limb was cleaned, abscess lanced and wound disinfected. The animal was also medicated with long-acting antibiotics as well as analgesic for pain management.