Busy days in the park attending cases. This time of year it is so dry that the elephants have to sometimes walk 20 to 50 kilometres a day away from theChobe riverfront, the only source of water, to feed and then back to drink. Every day... This is also the time of the year that the soil is eroded by the thousands of animals coming to drink that the dreaded disease of Anthrax which remains in the soil in its encapsulated state can become a problem. Many animals just suddenly drop dead from this deadly bacterium. This year there have been the usual mortalities. All carcasses when found are immediately burned to destroy the possibility of Anthrax being spread. Needles to say our extremely efficient parks and Wildlife department spends most of their time collecting firewood in the tedious job which is nonstop during this very dry season. We all pray for rain to soak the parched ground and bring new growth of foliage for animals to eat and greatly reduce the incidence of this deadly disease. Oddly enough all carcases tested to date have been negative for anthrax. So there has not been one confirmed case. One starts to look for other causes now. I believe it may be the extreme heat dehydrating these individuals and the possibility of another disease. Blood samples are sent to the state laboratory and I always do blood smears in house after letting the sample sit for 5 days so spores can form and be visible under the microscope. Today I noticed small inclusions in the red blood cells that are very similar to anaplasmosis in cattle. This is a tick borne disease that is prevalent in the area and we will be doing investigations into this being the possibility for these acute deaths.
One is to congratulate the efforts of the Parks department in building several artificially pumped water points at strategic points in the park. Animals are now frequenting these and not having to travel all the way to the river. Kudos to all personnel involved in the wonderful step that have undertaken in the management of the Chobe Park
