Relieving animal suffering is one of the core functions of a veterinarian. Pain causes discomfort and affects normal functions of an animal. One such animal in pain is an adult male elephant that was treated in the Buffalo Springs Reserve by the the Kenya Wildlife Service(KWS) veterinarian based at Lewa.

The Game rangers from the Buffalo springs reserve reported to the KWS veterinarian that they had found an adult male elephant limping and in great pain.

Being a priority the veterinarian drove for 2 hours to the site of incidence.Upon arrival and after a few minutes of search, the animal was found under Acacia mellifera tree. A close observation of the animal was made before darting.

After the animal was recumbent, it was found that there was a gun shot wound on the right forelimb. The wound was cleaned and checked for the presence or absence of the bullet. No bullet was found. Proper wound management procedures were followed and the animal injected with massive doses of long acting antibiotic to prevent further bacterial infection that may lead to septicaemia. Bacterial septicaemia and toxemia are known to cause deaths in animals and since the animal was treated at an early stage, his prognosis favourable.

My sincere thanks go to the management of the Buffalo springs reserve and the KWS Isiolo complex for reporting the case in good time

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