On the 6th October the DSWT keepers sighted a big bull, accompanied by two wild elephants at the Ithumba mudbath, who had a severe wound on his back leg as a result of being shot with a poisoned arrow. Immediately the keepers reported this to KWS, whilst requesting aerial support from the DSWT aircraft to come and locate the elephant which had since disappeared back into the bush. That afternoon the DSWT SuperCub located the elephant about 1km from the mudbath.
With water and veterinary supplies the team once again ventured to the GPS point taken by the airplane flying overhead. The plane guided the team in quickly where the vet and two KWS rangers got within 30m of the bull and darted him successfully. The bull initially charged off, away from the direction of the vet and rangers, but soon changed his mind, the dart obviously reminding him of the arrow incident a few days earlier. He spun around and charged the three men crouching in the bush nearby. As they scattered the bull focused in on one KWS ranger who ran through the bush. The elephant was closing fast, but with a warning shot fired into the air he changed direction away from the ranger and within minutes was down from the tranquiliser.