In Charara Safari Area, a young female elephant has passed away after spending several months in a snare that cut through her neck and throat. According to Debbie Ottman with the Kariba Animal Welfare Fund, the elephant was spotted pouring sand on her neck to try to ease the pain.
“A team proceeded to dart the elephant to remove the embedded wire snare that had cut deeply into her neck and throat and cleaned up the wound, and treated it with strong antibiotics,” Ottman told Zim Morning Post.
“Sadly she passed on after a month of treatment. Her prognosis was not good after removing the wire and finding that it had cut right through into her trachea, a hole right through into her inner throat.”
The only upside, said Ottman is that she had a few weeks of less pain after living in excruciating pain for some months with the wire around her neck.
“Rest in Peace Shinga you are free of the brutal and vicious pain caused by poachers.”
The Kariba Animal Welfare Fund said that patrols were removing over 50 snares a month in areas that they cover in the park. The Independent reported that they had removed 418 snares as of August 2022.
Recently, a two-year-old lioness broke several teeth after trying to get free from a wire snare that tore through her mouth and cheeks. The lioness is slowly recovering now in northern Zimbabwe.
The lioness was saved by the Bumi Hills Anti-Poaching Unit, and they were able to remove the snare.
“The unimaginable suffering this young lioness had to endure is beyond comprehension. This is cruelty in its harshest form,” said BHAPU Base Manager Catherine Norton.
“Najam is one of the ‘lucky’ ones, but there are many who are not as lucky,” she added.
“Her near-death encounter highlights the need to increase the capacity of the BHAPU team in order to conduct more snare patrols – finding and removing snares, and helping to protect fragile wildlife from these brutal devices.”
This article by Hailey Kanowsky was first published by OneGreenPlanet on 4 December 2022.
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