Kariba Animal Welfare Fund Trust

About the Project

KARIBA ANIMAL WELFARE FUND TRUST IN CONJUNCTION WITH  ZIMBABWE PARKS & WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT

REMEMBER: When Driving or walking,  Animals always have the right of way

KEEP KARIBA CLEAN  Keep litter to yourself, in your vehicle or boat and empty only at designated points.

David Mc Master has kindly made up 2 signs for use when there is an exercise with Wild Animals.  This is to avoid any unnecessary stress to the Wild Animals, protect the public from the Wild animals and avoid any accident on roads with vehicles and people stopping and blocking up the roadway.

We hope people will take note of these signs. We would love for it to be possible for everyone to see the goings on but it is unsafe for all.

1ST SNARE SWEEP

9th July - 2 snares - Nyanyanya river to main rd and west of airport. 10 ele's seen. Fresh sign of Kudu. 2 10mm soft wire cable snare found.


2ND SNARE SWEEP

10th July - 4 snares - Area between Chenguruwe and Nyanyana road. Large herd of + - 50 buff seen.  4 recently laid heavy snares recovered

On returning after dropping off the snare patrol  an ele bull was seen, with fair sized tusks curving inwards eating under the power line. Cavan stopped to take a few pics and he came straight over to the vehicle in a foul mood. A few pictures were snapped and as he got close to the vehicle he turned away with much noise. After downloading the pic's  it was noticed that he had a deep scar 20 to 30mm above the end of his trunk. It has not quite healed and it is 90% certain that this is the result of a snare. No wonder that he was so furious.





3RD SNARE SWEEP

11th July - 8 snares -  Nzou lodges to Shumba rd. 1 small snare found by the lodges. 7 were found further on along with very fresh human spoor. Their trail was lost on follow up but led to recovery of a few snares.


4TH SNARE SWEEP

12th July - 5 snares - From platform at Nyanyanya to just past Chengurruye river. One old carcass of a buff was found as was the wire that killed it. A herd of 20 odd impala, several waterbuck and three warthogs were sighted. 27 Ele cows and young were seen under the power line rd. A very impressive sight.






An Ele with a short trunk was seen. Cavan was able to watch it eat from very close up for 15 minutes. It has to "hunch down at an awkward angle to eat anything low down. It did not (could not) use it's tusks to selectivly break of bunches of leaves of a branch but had to just break branches and start chewing. His knees showed signs of much kneeling, probably to try and get a tasty grasses or vines on the ground. His trunk is obviously missing the Lips/fingers that they use so well. His eyes had a resigned tiredness to them. He was very tolerant of Cavan's presence perhaps because feeding time for him is a very big deal. He was feeding with a sense of clumsy urgency. His life will be long and difficult. It is believed this is the result of a snare. His trunk had long healed.




5TH SNARE SWEEP

13th July -  33 snares - Antelope Island. The Patrol was dropped of at the zebra gap. Not less than 11 kapenta boats were busy illegally parking. Registration numbers taken by the ranger accompanying the patrol. Parks HQ was informed immediately along with offending registration numbers.

The Shore line is littered with garbage in front of these boats. The Snare patrol started recovering snares immediately on leaving the kapenta boats. A total of 33 snares were recovered.

A pile of mopani poles was seen stacked up ready for collection,  and the remains of an impala found.

(On the west side near Zebra gap!) Nylon twine and knife were also found in the area where a picture was taken of two people in a row boat and walking on the land. Time was short and approximately half the island was swept for snares. The Patrol will return to complete the whole Island.





ANTELOPE ISLAND FEEDING PROGRAM.

Since the first lot of feed was taken out on the 7th July it was two days till Widehorn and his mate found the feed. Both are very thin. The main herd found the feed on the 11th July-ONLY EIGHT IN NUMER. 10 including Widehorn and mate. November last year there was not less than 13. (two of the cows were heavily pregnant) One of the eight mentioned was a calf born AFTER November. There are 3 possibly 4 buff (counting the second cow's calf) unaccounted for. This will become clearer in the next couple of days! The snare patrol saw only eight buff. Their sighting does not include Widehorn and mate. All the buff are now rather skittish with any one on foot and with good reason considering the snares that have just been lifted off the island,

African proverb - If you think you are too small to make a difference, you have never spent the night with a mosquito.

For any donations, help offer, more info, or information on injured animals please contact below

Kariba Animal Welfare Fund Trust Update 29 July 2012


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Phone numbers

Cavan Warran 0772 690 915 - KARIBA

Nick Grant 0772 607 214 - HARARE

Sonya Mc Master Land Home 061 2488 Cell 0772 874 352 - KARIBA

Debbie Ottman Land Home 061 2342 Work 2764 or 2443 Cell 0773 996 487- KARIBA