Elephant with spear in ear seeks treatment

An elephant appeared to seek out help from a vet who had treated him once before after he had been attacked and a spear had become stuck in his ear.

The large bull elephant, called Tusker Tim, was injured in a conflict with humans in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya.

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The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust explained exactly what happened in a post on its Facebook page.

It read: "In November 2014 we treated 'Tusker Tim', one of Kenya's largest bull elephants, for a deep spear wound, which had become sceptic. That treatment, undertaken by Dr. Njoroge who heads the DSWT funded Amboseli Veterinary Unit, was a complete success and Tim was able to continue to roam the plains as he had done for 45 years.

"So there was great alarm when Dr. Njoroge again reported to us that Tim had been sighted with a spear protruding from his head, however it was too late in the day to carry out treatment. On the morning of 17 June the KWS/DSWT Veterinary Team was on the ground where Tim was last seen the previous day, with Big Life Foundation providing aerial coverage to help locate him. Working together on the ground and in the air he was located, darted and treated.

"To everybody's relief the injury was not as bad as first feared, with the spear injuring his ear and not embedded in his head. Tim is expected to make a 100% recovery. This is not believed to be an attempted poaching incident, but rather conflict with humans.

"As the environs of Amboseli become increasingly cultivated and developed, human-wildlife conflict amplifies. The DSWT will be partnering with BigLife to help save this precarious ecosystem and corridor outside of Amboseli National Park, a vital route used by elephants for millennia to access the Tsavo ecosystem.

"Tim and Amboseli's elephants, along with many other species, rely on the environs of Amboseli as their range lands - incentivising local Masai communities to leave their land virgin rather than selling it for cultivation and development is necessary for the future of icons like Tim."