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Tumaren

Ecology and Conservation Observations in Laikipia, Kenya

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Elephants Dying From Mysterious Disease

Category: Issues, Mammals | Date: Jul 10 2009 | By: tumaren

In the past month a number of Elephants in our area have died of a strange, yet undiagnosed (atleast by us) disease.  Our tracker Leshilling Lemanyass says that he has seen this problem with Elephants many times and that he suspects it effects their stomach and digestion.  We have found two sick animals on us both of whom appeared to have trouble passing their manure (legs spread in a prolonged and uncomfortable looking way).  Our guys who work for us as Rangers and as trackers on our safaris have also described skin problems corresponding with this dissease.  If anyone knows anything about this dissease which has been killing many elephants in the greater Laikipia / Samburu area we would love to know the what it is.  These sad pictures are of a young female that we found this morning as it was dying.  Its mother was still guarding it and it was only for a few minutes that we were able to get to her.  We assumed that she was already dead but she was still breathing but with no movement from any other part of her body besides her blinking eyelid. Very sad.

This is an image of the mother and matriarch guarding the body:

dyingele2.jpg

Here is the young female:

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9 Responses to “Elephants Dying From Mysterious Disease”

K Chan, on 10 Jul 2009

It’s very sad. May be “The David Shieldrick Wildlife Trust” can help as they have raised many orphants in the past?

tumaren, on 10 Jul 2009

The Sheldrick Trust does excellent work raising and releasing orphans among other things but none of the elephants we have found sick have appeared to be curable - we have only got to them too late for any vet care. Should we find a sick adult that leaves an orphan, The sheldrick trust will be the first place we call. cheers, james

Anna M, on 10 Jul 2009

Could the water/draught situation and the possibility of sharing the scares water supplies with live stock be a underlying cause, I am no expert but it has been mentioned that especially young elephants are susceptible to digestive problems due to parasites and that their own internal bacteria flora are not strong or developed enough to help them fight any infections etc ?….

Dana-Phoenix Arizona, on 10 Jul 2009

I’m sorry for the loss of this young elephant. Hopefully it’s not any type of poision?

Katherine, NYC, on 10 Jul 2009

Dr. Sheldrick is very knowledgeable about elephant biology and diseases and also has several veterinarians on her staff that might be tapped for their expertise.

Also there is Iain Douglas-Hamilton at Save-The-Elephants in Samburu/Buffalo Springs reserve.

Combined these two extraordinary individuals have a century’s worth of knowledge concerning African elephant illnesses, diseases and biology.

tumaren, on 10 Jul 2009

Katherine,
yes your right. Iain is a good family friend and we know Dame Sheldrick as well so we shall ask them and keep you all informed.
cheers, James

tumaren, on 11 Jul 2009

Anna, I absolutely think that the stress from the drought is exacerbating this disease by compromising the eles imune systems.

Zarek, on 12 Jul 2009

Considering you’re so close to the Douglas-Hamiltons, I would think they would be an easy, helpful source of information to you.
In the mean-time, perhaps take a look at the website below. Also, a simple google search turns up all sorts of good stuff. Possible anthrax poisoning. Water sources in rural areas sometimes get contaminated in various ways.
http://www.wildlifeinformation.org/Preview_WildPro/List_Vols/elephants/List_Elephant_Dis.htm

James Christian, on 16 Jul 2009

Zarek,
We have talked about anthrax here before but typically anthrax is quite local and this seems to be hitting our entire, Laikipia/Samburu ecosystem. here is what Kerry found at Save the Elephants, http://www.savetheelephants.org/ the Douglas-Hamiltons website:

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An unusual number of wildlife, including 37 elephants mostly between 2 and 8 years old, have died in the Laikipia/Samburu ecosystem due to the extra-ordinary and prolonged dry season. A few mature ones have also died as a result of the drought.

This area annually experiences dry spells in the months of March, April and May when other parts of the country are having rains. In 2007 a total of 14 elephants died naturally while we lost 28 in the same period in 2008.

A team of Kenya Wildlife Service vets carried out postmortems on the dead elephants, and collected samples from live ones for further laboratory analysis to determine the causes of death.

Preliminary results indicate that elephants are dying of malnutrition due to an extremely low food biomass, caused by the prolonged drought. The younger elephants are the most affected because they cannot walk for long distances in search of food.

Further investigations are being carried out to determine the possibility of opportunistic disease out break due to lowered immune levels as a result of poor diet. KWS is monitoring the situation and a team of experts is on the ground for active disease search.

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