After a late return to our lodge last night, we quickly unpacked, showered and slept—6:30 departure this morning. The game farm was relatively close by, and had hired Rita for the day to dart and move young sable bulls from one camp (essentially one pasture) to another. They were currently in with some very large dominant males, and they were getting old enough to be seen as a challenge. They would be driven out of the herd to form a bachelor band in nature, but without the y fenced space to do that, the older bulls will kill the young up-and-coming competition.
The students have come together to form a highly efficient retrieval, treatment and recovery team, so we were able to divide up the tasks and work quite quickly. Rita farted several young bulls, and each student would spot to see where their particular animal lay down. Then they approached, placed the animal lying upright on their sternum and held their head up and nose down. As soon as the recovery team arrived, the sable was placed on a stretcher and carried to the back of one of the pickups. We discovered that it is possible to fit 3 good-sized sable and 3-5 people in the back of a mini-pickup!
Rita approaching a darted sable bull.
Lucia holding the head while Eleanore makes an IV injection into an ear vein.
Subcutaneous (under the skin) injection of B vitamins
Kailey gives subcutaneous B vitamins
Carli (left) looks on while Eleanor injects a sedation-reversing drug IV. This has to be done fairly quickly, as the animal regains consciousness quite fast.
Transporting sable bulls through the camp
Ivy makes an IV injection in an ear vein
Eleanor with an enormous sable bull. He was measured, identity confirmed, and moved into a quarantine pen to be sold at auction.
This time Cecilie is holding horns and Lucia is injecting.
Lucia with an Impala in a color variation called dappled. Typically, Impala are a golden color with darker areas over their backs. This one is a rose grey color with white facial markings.
Dappled Impala. This camp also contained black Impala, and a few other white color variants. The unusual coloration is a genetic anomaly, and due to its rarity, this is a very valuable animal.
Carrying the dappled Impala to the truck.
So here’s how our day felt once we got going:
Pause for a few minutes while Rita darts selected bulls: Keep track of where yours goes. When it goes down, walk out to it, position it and hold its head until the stretcher crew arrives. Help heave it onto the stretcher, being careful if it’s head position, breathing, legs and horns. Not only can the horns injure you, but the animal’s value is largely dependent upon horn length. Carry the heavy stretcher to the truck, lift the animal into the truck bed, always minding head, horns, legs and breathing. Climb onto the truck, hold horns, maintain position and monitor breathing while another sable or 2 is added to the bed of your truck, then as the truck speeds back down the track, through several gates, and through the new camp. Reverse the process and unload the sable. Administer B vitamin complex to help support with stress, an injectable dewormer, and a pour-on for lice and ticks. Then give 2 IV injections into the ear veins to reverse sedation, then hold the head until the sable regains control, jumps up and walks, leaps, staggers or runs away. Then, gather all equipment, climb back into the back of the truck, try to gulp some water, take off or put on clothing layers, and hang on while speeding back to the original camp to load more sable. Repeat. All day.
As if there were not enough going on, there were Cape Buffalo in the same camp, which had to be monitored as they can be hire aggressive.
After finishing the sable job, we were called to a nearby farm to see a nyala with a porcupine quill in its leg. The animal was right up at the fence, so Rita made quick work of darting him. The quill was cut off and pulled through, wound treated, and nyala recovered within a few minutes.
Tranquilized nyala. Note black and white porcupine quill in left forefoot.
Closer view of quill. They are huge and beautiful and very sharp!
The team treating the nyala.
Recovering nyala
After much (much!) needed showers and another good supper, we went to a local restaurant to meet another group of vet students. They turned out to be mainly from France and Belgium, and it was fun to talk with them. The students ended the evening with a general dance party, and closed the place down (at 11:00 pm, 2 hours after scheduled closing time).
Tomorrow might be a hippo, if it is still at the dam in the morning. Also possible/probable horseback riding. Sunday in Kruger Park, and Monday on the road for another 2-day job out of town.
Good night!
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