Hyaenas survive poachers snares: Video
Published by Wildcaster 1 year, 6 months ago Tags: africa, animal kingdom, blogumentary, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, horse riding, horses, snare, teach, video, wildcasting, wildlife, wildlife documentary, zimbabwe.Hyaenas survive a lot worse than what I went through.
It always amazes me how strong these animal’s necks must be to be able to snap a wire snare or prevent it going so tight around their necks that it strangles them.
But they’re about the only living animal that one finds with scares from snares. The others die.
Outside the reserve there is little control and this is where the hyaenas are picking up the wire snares.
Yesterday was of course another story for me. I had taken the day off and went horse riding with Laura in the afternoon.
Laura’s horse, Leicester, was new in the bush and she wanted to condition it to seeing all the wild animals. The smaller species are fine. But when a horse sees a massively tall giraffe for the first time they often panic.
We trotted alongside a herd of zebra for about a kilometre and then headed on to a pan. My horse, Orinoco, was having fun splashing in the water, but that town horse just wasn’t interested in going near it.
Just before going riding I’d been jogging and had hardly drunk anything afterwards. Now I was getting seriously thirsty. At Chekwas pan I dismounted and holding the rains in one hand bent down to drink. Just then the horse shied and wrenched my shoulder out its socket. I instantly tried to pull it back but without success. The pain set in fast.
Leicester wouldn’t come to me ‘cos it meant crossing some water.
I led Orinoco over to Laura and while she held him I somehow managed to mount him with massive pain as I fell into the saddle. Then shock set in and I was about to feint. I lent forward and lay on his neck for a couple of minutes till I felt better.
But the pain now was something else. We were now at least an hour’s walk from any help.
Sitting atop a horse walking with a dislocated shoulder is truly not fun! It’s not fun just lying down but on a horse is 10 times worse.
My breathing was rapid all the time as I tried to combat the pain.
Then Leicester’s wouldn’t lead ‘cos of zebra ahead, so I had to move on.
Poor Laura had to put up with all my groaning, swearing and rude jokes to keep myself entertained. It helped to keep talking to distract my thoughts from the pain, but even talking was hard going with my fast breathing. And because of that I was now incredibly thirsty.
Well we made it back to base. And soon I was in a vehicle to hospital. A few painkillers helped a little but every little bump hurt. Then a police roadblock, another delay, when all I wanted was a heavy duty pain killer.
At the hospital the nurse gave me just that but it had no effect. A short while later after getting the doctor’s prescription a heavier painkiller was administered. Still it had little effect.
But when the doctor came with the Valium I was into glory land! And woke up to a shoulder in place and feeling pretty good.
So I’m back on the reserve but won’t be able to go out shooting for a few weeks. But rest assured Wildcast will continue bringing you new content. This is footage I shot last year just before we started Wildcast.
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Hey Kim, glad to hear you’re ok. Man you try and take care of yourself by taking a day off so you dont get burned out and it bites you in the a**. What bad luck! We’ll all be patiently waiting your recover. Best wishes
Paige
This is an amazing videoblog, thanks for your work, I have subscribed of course, thanks again
dear kim,
I hope you are feeling good. Dylan
Kim — Dylan, Aidan and I logged on today and since we hadn’t looked at Wildcast since Friday, we didn’t know you were injured. So sorry to hear this! That must have been a terrible ride back to camp and many hours of pain before the valium. We hope you will recover quickly and send our best wishes to you. Aidan, Dylan and Kathy
Kim –
Glad you’re on the mend. I love that Laura had the presence of mind to get a photo of you making your way back for help lol! Wonder what you were thinking/saying to her at that moment? Perhaps not suitable for a family publication???
Get well fast!
Amy
Kim
All I can say is “OUCH!
Pax
Hey Dilly! Thanks for the note!
Thanks guys. Shoulder feeling great. Did a hundred pushups today so should be back in the saddle at dawn. That was in my dreams. Being in the office all day not my style of fun.
Amy. Laura was carrying my camera so in my state of stupour and plies of conversation not to be repeated, I asked her to take a picture of the wounded cowboy. I felt like one of those guys coming back after skirmish with an arrow stuck in my body. Maybe i should have lain down limp across the saddle. Problem is I didn’t have any blood to add to the drama.
Cheers
Kim
I’m a week behind but am so glad to hear you’re mended. Shoulder dislocations are excrutiating. My husband dislocated his showing a dog of all things! Dog startled, took off in opposite direction of husband who was moving the dog forward, floors wet, down he went. Unbelievable pain. No drs (except himself) around so other dog folks wrapped his arm to his chest with vetwrap….pink or purple I think! We then went on showing the dog with me doing the honors. After the classes finished we loaded him into a van to drive over an hour away in a monsoon type rain to the hospital where he too begged for pain relievers. I understand Lauras position…..I listened to him moan and groan for an hour any time the van swerved or bumped.
Good to have you back.
Paula
Us men sure love to groan. Shoulder still got lots of mending to do but feeling good so far thanks.