Archive for February 6th, 2001
Day 34
Today was the most exciting day I have had so far.
An eland bull at the nearby Madrid Reserve had a severe tick problem, and it had been decided that the best course of action was to dart it and take it to a pen, where it could be looked after until the tick problem was eradicated. This operation was particularly tricky because the eland was estimated to weigh around six hundred kilograms!
What made the day so special was the method used to dart the animal.The Madrid Reserve had a small 2-seater helicopter, which was to be used, incredibly, to dart the eland from the air!
Another interesting factor was that they were going to use a new, experimental tranquilliser, called A3080. Apparently, it has a far superior induction time at 2-3 minutes, compared to 8-10 minutes with the more conventional M99, but there was no real-life data to go on - we were exploring new ground.
Josh and a pilot went up in the helicopter, and the rest of us followed in jeeps. The helicopter swooped down a few times, trying to maneuver around trees to get a clear shot of the eland. I looked up, watching, not quite believing what I was seeing.
Within a few minutes, we got the call over the radio - the eland was down. We rushed in quickly. Unfortunately, the eland had fallen on some rough ground, with tree trunks and bushes all around. Luckily, they were prepared for this - a few of the staff had chainsaws and other cutting equipment, and they were able to clear the surrounding vegetation to give us some space to work. It was then that I was able to see just how big this thing was up-close. It was huge.
After some initial treatment, about 15 minutes after darting, we got a bit of a shock - the eland began struggling to get up! The tranquilliser was beginning to wear off unexpectedly - obviously, a little more was needed. As the eland began thrashing, I was told to stay away from the hind legs - even on the ground and half-sedated, the legs of a 600kg eland could do some serious damage.
It took 6 people just to keep this behemoth on the ground, until the doc was able to administer another few mills of A3080.
Because the animal weighed so much, the only way to get it into the transport (a trailer hitched to a big four-by-four) was to first slide it onto a large mat, and then use the four-by-four to drag the mat and eland into the trailer. Moving the eland onto the trailer by hand was simply out of the question - it took quarter of an hour or so just to shift the eland a few feet onto the mat. The trailer doors were closed, and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. A few times I thought we simply wern’t going to manage it.
The eland was transported to the pen, with the doc in the trailer with the eland, ready to administer another shot if needed. After maneuvering the trailer into the pen, the doc gave the eland a shot to reverse the tranquilliser - it slowly took hold, and the eland was soon up on it’s feet.
Later that day, I helped change the bandage on our wounded cheetah again. The wound is healing nicely - it now only needs a light dressing.
I can’t stop thinking about that eland - I was so lucky to be involved in such an awesome mission!