Interventions at Welgevonden

During both my stays at Welgevonden, I've been fortunate to attend many interventions. Two on my previous trip included a lioness collar removal and an old rhino who unfortunately didn't make it.

Interventions aren't taken lighty as they are very expensive to carry out so each one is always a privilege to be able to experience. Interventions can consist of controlling animal numbers via contraception, to treating injuries or adjusting collars.

We attended three rhino interventions during my stay this time round.

The first, a female named Blue who had a split horn due to a poor dehorning at her old reserve and so needed it trimming and flushing from infection.

You can see the split on the horn here

The intervention took place on the same day and moments after Tembe - the dominant lion-had been darted for relocation. As both animals were in the same location, it made sense to do them at the same time. These interventions were open to lodges and the WildEarth crew were also able to capture this for their program.

Moving Tembe out of the long grass: The bush version of 'how many people does it take to change a light bulb?'

For many people this is the first and only time they might get to witness something like this.

On my first trip, Tembe came to 'say goodbye' to me on my last day. And this was a real goodbye to him

The second intervention was a Rhino who appeared to be ataxic and so we headed out early hours to find her. She was treated, and got up happily to join her current calf.

Can you spot her?

A large team working together ensures every element is covered and the animal can get woken up as soon as possible.

Volunteer vet students assist with treatment

Dr Peter Caldwell

Ready to be woken up

The third Rhino was a young bull who had been gorged by a much bigger bull and had large wounds that would cause some issues had it not been treated.

We set out searching for him in vehicles, all in separate directions to cover as much ground as possible. Eventually, having had no luck, we were called to group up and they sent the helicopter up to look instead. The helicopter went to the right and from the left ran two rhinos. This was our boy! They ran right onto the area we were waiting - very handy. The helicopter turned round, darted him and once he was down, again very handily in the shade, the team got to work.

At the back, the scrubbing and dressing of the wound took place, whilst at the front important data was taken for rhODIS where DNA information from the Rhino is kept so that in the unfortunate event they are poached, the horn can be traced back to the individual and reserve. They also took advantage of having this young bull down and notched him at the same time.

Having our debrief afterwards and the two bulls had joined back up and approached us from behind watching with interest.

Here is a little video:

We were also able to take part in watching the contraception of lionesses. As I said at the beginning, these types of intervention must happen to prevent an abundance of predators. The lionesses are still allowed to have cubs but they will be limited either to the number, or the length of time they can have them over.

It seemed funny that on my second visit here I'd be having another lion intervention on my birthday.. what a way to see 30 in with.

It was an early start trying to locate the females. This was the second attempt of this intervention and so everyone's fingers were crossed they'd be found. They were, and one female was done in the field nice and quickly and the other was taken to a makeshift surgery in the garden of the Priority Species Manager.

Unfortunately, she had not long eaten a zebra and so it would be unsafe to do the surgery required.

Thanks to Brittany for the photo

Both Birthdays in South Africa have given me lion paws to hold

On our last week we were very fortunate to be able to join an Elephant intervention which consisted of a collar replacement. From an old heavy one to a fancy new lightweight one.

Sometimes interventions like this are sponsored by lodges or guests. This not only lifts monetary pressure off the reserve but also enables those funding the procedure to get hands on with assisting. The lady of the couple helping fund that day was able to take the respiration rate of this Elephant cow and had the breaths at her fingertips.

The day started as usual: early and searching for the herd. Once they had been located we grouped up and had another informative talk off Peter Caldwell who always goes into great depth about the drugs he uses, how the intervention will (hopefully) go and gives people an opportunity to ask any questions. As we were talking, we got to hold the battery of one of the older collars used on elephants and it was heavy.

The team worked as they always do, and the old lady was back on her feet with the herd waiting for her not too far away.

Thank you Brittany for the photo

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For our final intervention, we were able to witness the team do some health checks on the second new male lion who had been brought into the reserve. The plan was to put a collar on him in preparation for release in a couple of weeks however they found he had damaged his teeth and they decided to get a dental surgeon in on the Friday. So we would get another possible once-in-a-lifetime moment just one day before leaving.

Friday came and we met back up at the bomas. Sitting in silence, we could hear him growling and snarling at the vet team. Eventually he went quiet as the drugs kicked in and he was brought round to another boma where the surgery would take place.

I was really really cold that day. Those who know me know I am always cold but I was rooted to my spot in the sun trying to keep warm. This meant I didn't get many photos!

As you can see, interventions can be planned or completely spur of the moment but each one is always in aid of helping the animal. Giving people the unique opportunity of being close to these animals is an amazing way to help them connect to and appreciate the importance of conserving our wildlife.

I hope you enjoyed reading!