The world’s first attempt to relocate whole ELEPHANT families to avoid a mass cull.
The world’s first attempt to relocate whole ELEPHANT families to avoid a mass cull.
A specialist marksman, airborne in a tiny single engine Schweizer helicopter, takes aim at the matriarch of a herd with a dart gun.
During one of the worst droughts in Zimbabwean history, with the threat of a widespread elephant cull, the world’s first mass relocation of whole elephant herds began, moving hundreds of elephants from the Gonarezhou National Park to nearby Savé Valley Conservancy.
A single engine Schweizer helicopter hovers above a group of adult elephants as a marksman prepares to dart.
The capture team attempt to subdue a sub-adult elephant who has been darted but, as yet, has not “gone down”.
Team work is needed to push a sedated elephant onto its side after it has collapsed in a difficult position.
A large adult elephant, not yet completely immobilised by the M99 drug, is hobbled and falls to the ground. Once “down” a further dose of M99 will be injected into an ear vein.
Ingenuity is required to manoeuvre a sedated elephant into the “recovery” container. Ropes attached to the feet are used to bent the knees so that the animal can be drawn inside.
The capture team, with volunteers, salaried staff, drivers and National Park game guards.
