One of Kenya’s oldest elephants has survived a spear at.tack after finding the people he knew could help him.
Tim, the 47-year-old bull elephant, made his way through Amboseli National Park to see a group of conservationists with a spear sticking out of his head and a “huge bleeding wo.und” on his forehead.
Doctors who treated Tim for a septic wo.und in 2014 after he was impaled in the rump tirelessly chased him throughout the night and rescued the animal last week.
Tim the famous 47-year-old bull elephant survived a spear at.tack after he found the humans he knew would be able to help him
Conservationist David Bates and his team alerted Kenyan Wildlife Service emergency services after hearing that Tim, whose fangs weigh 100 pounds, was heading his way.
“I was happy to see you. But then, as we approached us, we realized that something was wrong,” Mr. Bates told The Nation.
“There was a spear sticking out of his head and he had a huge bleeding wo.und on his forehead. It looks like it was hit by a big rock.”
Mr. Bates revealed fears that local farmers might have injured the mammal.
When a veterinarian arrived, it was dark, so the group watched the Tusker until the wee hours of the morning before sedating him with an arrow to examine the wo.unds.
Conservation Group The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which helped treat the elephant in 2014, said his injury was not as serious as they initially suspected.
The trust added that they believed the injury was not due to poachers but to people who lived near the park.
Vets, who had previously treated Tim in 2014 for a septic wo.und after he was speared in the rump, tracked him through the night and helped the animal last week
“To everyone’s relief, the injury wasn’t as bad as feared at first, as the spear injured his ear and it wasn’t embedded in his head,” they said.
“Tim is expected to recover at 100 percent. It is not believed to be a poaching attempt, but rather a conflict with humans.”
“Five minutes later, Tim got up and returned to the swamps in the middle of Amboseli.”
In November 2014, Tim was seen limping around the park with a spear up his butt.
The team treated the septic wo.und in a 45-minute operation, removing de.ad flesh and grabbing the area with antiseptic green clay, causing it to fully recover.
The trust emphasized that the animal’s injury was “a clear example” that the Kimana corridor had become a tense zone of conflict between humans and elephants.
The human-elephant conflict has become more significant than poaching, as has Big Life’s success in reducing this conflict.
The animal welfare organization Big Life Foundation has requested funding for a 40 km fence on the edge of farmland to protect elephants and humans separated from each other.
Like last year, the giant elephant Wide Satao miraculously recovered after being cut down in a Kenyan park with a single poisoned arrow from a poacher.
Doctors had to keep the clock ticking to save the gentle giant after he was hit by a poisoned arrow in Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park.
If left untreated, the poison would have ki.lled the giant bull elephant in 48 hours. Wide Satao was sedated with an arrow and his wo.und was cleaned before being given a large dose of antibiotics.
The wide Satao is a “large tusk”, a term used to describe elephants with tusks over 40 years old, destined for their valuable ivory, with an estimated value of more than 130,000 dollars (85,000 pounds sterling).
It is said that there are only 470,000 African elephants left in the wild, and poachers are supposed to ki.ll more than they are born.
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