On the afternoon of October 7th, under a sweltering African Sun, Roger Parry and Jessica Dawson received the call that a female kudu with a snare was with a small herd near the railway tracks by the “Big Tree” in Victoria Falls.  After grabbing all the gear the team headed down to the last place the kudu was sighted, and joined Allison Baker, a volunteer with the Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit (VFAPU).  Ms. Baker kindly donates time each day looking for snared animals via horseback (she runs a horseback safari operation).  Allison met up with Roger and Jessica, and Roger loaded up a dart for the kudu.  With Roger joining Allison on horseback to be able to get closer to the animal, the remainder of the darting team stayed a few hundred meters behind with all of the darting equipment. 
A few minutes later the darting team heard the “whoosh” of the dart ejecting from the gun, and then the clatter of hooves taking off in all directions.  Shortly thereafter Roger appeared with the dart (hmmm, it should have been in the kudu).  The dart had hit the kudu, but Roger was unsure if the drug had been injected.  He carefully checked the dart to see if there was any drug left.  There wasn’t, which meant that the kudu had received the full dose.  Now the problem was locating the animal.  Allison’s horse had gotten a bit twitchy and she had taken off in one direction right after the dart had been ejected.  Roger grabbed the reins of his horse and took off in the other direction.  Unfortunately, after two hours of searching the kudu could not be located.  After that long of a time period the effects of the immobilization drugs would have been wearing off anyway.  With the sun dipping below the horizon into the lovely Zambezi River, the search had to be called off due to the approaching darkness. 
The following morning Ms. Baker was up with the birds and out looking for the kudu by 6am.  A few hours later Roger and Jessica got the call that the poor kudu had been located close to Elephant Hills hotel, near the golf course.  After a bit of searching the team located Ms. Baker in the thick bush and Roger reloaded another dart and jumped on his horse.  Charles Brightman (the head of VFAPU) had joined the team to assist in the darting.  Charles, Jessica and one of Allison’s grooms grabbed the drug boxes, water, bucket, etc and headed off behind Roger, at a much slower pace.  Soon thereafter, the team received the confirmation that the dart was in.
After waiting for a few minutes Roger radioed the animal was going down, and for the darting team to come in.  As the darting team was approaching, the kudu decided she wasn’t going down after all and took off.  So began the fun and games of trying to carry all the equipment and find the kudu.  After about 10 minutes Roger found the kudu that had gone down for good, up on a rocky slope of a hill.  With the darting team struggling to run behind him and get up the slope, the kudu had started making a gurgling sound.  Roger and Charles quickly moved the kudu onto her chest, as ungulates can not lie down on their side or they get bloat and can die.  Roger began working on taking the snare off of the kudu’s head and neck while Charles bravely gave up his shirt to use as a blindfold for the animal.  Allison and her grooms worked on monitoring breathing and keeping the animal’s head upright, as well as pouring water on the kudu to keep her cool, while Jessica began scrubbing out the deep wound. 
The snare had cut the skin all the way down to the skull bone on the top of the kudu’s head, and through the skin on her neck all the way to the jugular.  Roger dosed up the kudu with a long lasting, broad spectrum anti-biotic while Jessica cleaned the wound out and put wound spray around the entire head and neck of the kudu.  After the team had done all they could, Roger reversed the immobilization drug, and the kudu was on her feet in a matter of minutes.  Allison kindly monitored the kudu over the next two days and was able to report the kudu had rejoined her herd, and was recovering well.  

Special thanks goes out to Allison Baker of Zambezi Horse Safaris for all the time she puts into looking for snared and injured animals, and the use of her horses for darting.  We couldn’t do it without you.