Poaching ruled out in Ugab elephant tragedy

THE suspected poaching of a desert elephant in the Ugab River was ruled out on Friday after the injured elephant cow was darted and treated by a vet.

It was found that the cow was suffering from stab wounds inflicted by elephant tusks. She was too weak to get up after the treatment and died soon afterwards.The circumstances surrounding the injuries caused to the cow are baffling elephant experts.At present, they can only work on theories as it does not appear as if there are many records of this kind of behaviour by elephants.The only explanation those involved with the Ugab rescue have come up with so far is that the cow was attacked by other elephants because she was no longer a productive member of the herd.The cow was first noticed by Johannes Haasbroek of Elephant Human Relations Aid (EHRA) about two weeks ago when he noticed a wound on her back.His first suspicion was that she had been shot by a poacher.When he saw her again on Tuesday last week she looked weaker and was walking very slowly, lagging about seven kilometres behind the herd.He notified the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) with an offer that EHRA would pay for a vet to take a look at her.Permission was granted after MET teams from Khorixas and Uis were sent to assess the situation.A vet from Swakopmund, Dr Hartmut Winterbach, who previously worked for MET’s game capture unit, offered to assist by not charging professional fees, but only for costs incurred.When they found the elephant cow on Friday morning – in the granite hills just north of the Brandberg – she was in bad shape, said Haasbroek.It was only after she had been darted that they discovered eight holes in her front rump.”These were definitely not bullet holes, but elephant teeth holes,” Haasbroek told The Namibian.”Her whole front quarter was infected.”According to him it was not a pretty sight.She had been filling the holes with sand.Bags of pus were forming below the wounds.The vet, with the help of the MET teams and 12 overseas volunteers from EHRA, started draining and cleaning the wounds.They also noticed that liquid was running down her hind legs.The vet suspected she might have another infection on the inside.”After about 45 minutes of treatment the cow just refused to get up.”We tried everything and even tried to pull her up with the four wheel drive by tying a rope around her neck.And then she died,” said Haasbroek.”She just did not have the will to fight any more for her life.”The vet proceeded to open her up and found her womb was one big septic abscess.Dr Winterbach said the cow would probably have died within a week.”Her body had reached the end,” he said.She had no more body fat, low blood protein, her stomach was filled with fluid and her muscle mass had disappeared, he added.He said there was not much they could have done for the elephant.According to him the womb infection looked like the older infection of the wounds found on the cow.”This could have been caused by an early abortion,” said Winterbach.Haasbroek believes the other elephants in the herd smelled the womb infection and realised she would not be able to produce any more.”In order to survive they had to kick her out.”Betsy Fox of MET, who has done a lot of work with elephants, said yesterday that she had not heard of such behaviour “but anything is possible”.She said though that other animals that formed social groups, such as wild dogs and lions, were known to attack sick ones.The elephant’s tusks were removed by MET.She was too weak to get up after the treatment and died soon afterwards.The circumstances surrounding the injuries caused to the cow are baffling elephant experts.At present, they can only work on theories as it does not appear as if there are many records of this kind of behaviour by elephants.The only explanation those involved with the Ugab rescue have come up with so far is that the cow was attacked by other elephants because she was no longer a productive member of the herd.The cow was first noticed by Johannes Haasbroek of Elephant Human Relations Aid (EHRA) about two weeks ago when he noticed a wound on her back.His first suspicion was that she had been shot by a poacher.When he saw her again on Tuesday last week she looked weaker and was walking very slowly, lagging about seven kilometres behind the herd.He notified the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) with an offer that EHRA would pay for a vet to take a look at her.Permission was granted after MET teams from Khorixas and Uis were sent to assess the situation.A vet from Swakopmund, Dr Hartmut Winterbach, who previously worked for MET’s game capture unit, offered to assist by not charging professional fees, but only for costs incurred.When they found the elephant cow on Friday morning – in the granite hills just north of the Brandberg – she was in bad shape, said Haasbroek.It was only after she had been darted that they discovered eight holes in her front rump.”These were definitely not bullet holes, but elephant teeth holes,” Haasbroek told The Namibian.”Her whole front quarter was infected.”According to him it was not a pretty sight.She had been filling the holes with sand.Bags of pus were forming below the wounds.The vet, with the help of the MET teams and 12 overseas volunteers from EHRA, started draining and cleaning the wounds.They also noticed that liquid was running down her hind legs.The vet suspected she might have another infection on the inside.”After about 45 minutes of treatment the cow just refused to get up.”We tried everything and even tried to pull her up with the four wheel drive by tying a rope around her neck.And then she died,” said Haasbroek.”She just did not have the will to fight any more for her life.”The vet proceeded to open her up and found her womb was one big septic abscess.Dr Winterbach said the cow would probably have died within a week.”Her body had reached the end,” he said.She had no more body fat, low blood protein, her stomach was filled with fluid and her muscle mass had disappeared, he added.He said there was not much they could have done for the elephant.According to him the womb infection looked like the older infection of the wounds found on the cow.”This could have been caused by an early abortion,” said Winterbach.Haasbroek believes the other elephants in the herd smelled the womb infection and realised she would not be able to produce any more.”In order to survive they had to kick her out.”Betsy Fox of MET, who has done a lot of work with elephants, said yesterday that she had not heard of such behaviour “but anything is possible”.She said though that other animals that formed social groups, such as wild dogs and lions, were known to attack sick ones.The elephant’s tusks were removed by MET.