A brave team of veterinarians risked their lives to rescue an elephant with an infected wound crawling with maggots in Uganda.
Wildlife film producer, Verity White and her team were filming the darting of a giraffe with the Uganda Wildlife Authority Vet Team in Murchison Falls National Park, when they came across the limping elephant.
The elephant lies down in pain, before the team of vets could get to it. But the huge animal had to be moved to safety
The elephant had previously been freed from a poacher’s snare but the wound it was left with became infected
The Uganda Conservation Foundation had recently provided a dedicated veterinary vehicle to the Uganda Wildlife Authority in Murchison Falls as part of measure to tackle the poaching problem.
Verity, a film producer working in Uganda at the moment, said the team had come across lots of animals caught in snares but couldn’t get to them all without the vehicle
Mike Keigwin, the foundation leader, risked his life by heading out on foot in an attempt to try and move the elephant into a safe location
The young female elephant, thought to be in her twenties, had previously had a snare removed from her leg, but infection had set in and she was in desperate need for further treatment – with the infected wound filled with maggots.
Verity explained: ‘Being so close to an injured elephant on foot is extremely dangerous and the rangers were very brave to do so.’
The team had to get the elephant to safety before it could help. Above, the infected wound the elephant sustained
She said: ‘The elephants trunk was held open to help it breathe and it’s heart rate was monitored by a dedicated ranger.