A few days ago, I was in camp mid-morning when I received a radio message from the community scouts informing me that an elephant was dying and had lay down. Two days prior to this I had seen a young female elephant looking very thin in the Conservation Area of West Gate Conservancy. Her 2.5 year old calf was with her at the time and was happily feeding whilst her mother stood in the sun without moving, looking very thin and unwell.
Sick female elephant a few days before dying
I couldn’t help but think that maybe this was that very same young female who was dying. I had alerted Save the Elephants a few days before that and their researchers came out to look for the female. The female was not found then and the urgent radio message about the dying elephant was received the following day.
I rushed out of camp and headed towards the end of the Conservation Area. After communicating with the community scouts about the elephant’s location and the scouts whereabouts, we drove into the dry river bed of the Ewaso Nyiro River. I left Gypsy here and we proceeded on foot and crossed the river.
The female was laying down about 30 metres away from the river bank. Her calf stood by her, wandering into the bushes at times to feed. This was indeed the very same female I had seen a few days ago.
We sat with the elephant for sometime waiting for the security personnel and Save the Elephants researchers to arrive. The scene attracted many Samburu warriors who were herding their livestock and bathing in the river. They were curious to know what had happened to this poor elephant and also worried about what would happen to her calf.
Warriors watch the elephant
The young female didn’t move much but we knew she was alive because each time many flies irritated her eyes, she would blink slowly to remove them. She was very thin and her face was sunken in. It was unclear as to what had affected this elephant to make her so sick before she lay down to die.
The sick female
By 4 pm, the scouts and researchers arrived. They decided to wait a while to see if the female would eventually stand up. She could not be approached too close because of her young calf and we did not want to scare the calf away.
Calf stays with dying mother
I left after 6 hours of watching this poor female. The community scouts stayed with her during the entire night. I arrived back at the scene at 6 am and the scouts informed me that the elephant had died during the night. We could hear the calf somewhere in the bushes nearby but I didn’t see her.
During the day, the rangers and security personnel arrived to remove her tusks. I returned in the evening but still had no sighting of the calf. I visited the carcass again the following morning and found hyena tracks all around her but strangely, the hyenas did not touch her. I will be heading back there later today and will keep you posted.
It was unclear as to what killed this elephant. No obvious wounds were seen and she most likely died of an illness. Her calf has not been seen since then. It is my hope that she joined other elephants who were in the vicinity of the area.