Interview with Dr. Asuka Takita
The Reality of Wildlife Vets in Kenya
Profile
Dr. Asuka Takita
Dr. Takita is a wildlife veterinarian in Kenya who has led various conservation initiatives. She is currently continuing her activities through her own established organization, “Tears of the African Elephant.”
The Journey into Wildlife Conservation
Childhood
Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan, in 1975, she moved overseas before entering elementary school.
She graduated from Japanese schools in Singapore and the Philippines. She has loved animals since she was very young, and almost all of her drawings were of animals.
When I was in elementary school, I used to go to the Singapore Zoo every weekend with my father. At the time, it was the largest zoo in Asia and had a great number of animals, but I was particularly interested in the large African animals.
Even at this age, I had already decided that I wanted to study animals in the future.
Student
At the age of 13, she transferred to a local school in Chicago and later graduated from high school in New York.
She majored in Zoology at Skidmore College in the US.
She also studied wildlife for about one semester while studying abroad in Kenya.
Since I had been interested in large African animals for a long time, I chose to study wildlife in Kenya during my study abroad.
She took a leave of absence from college and worked part-time for one year at the Mara Conservancy in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve.
Since my father’s acquaintance owned a hotel in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, I was introduced to a part-time job there. This experience became the trigger that made me want to work in this place.
For the entire year, I thought continuously about how I could use the knowledge I had gained to work with wildlife. During this time, I felt that even with a background in zoology, it was difficult to “protect” the animals, and this led me to resolve to become a veterinarian.
She returned to New York and graduated from Skidmore College.
For about two years, she traveled across Africa seeking work related to wildlife, and also worked in Japan and Hawaii.
Since I was only 21 and did not have a master’s or doctoral degree at the time, I initially wanted to find a job in Africa and gain experience in wildlife conservation, but it was difficult. I either couldn’t find a position or, even when I did, I couldn’t work due to visa issues.
She enrolled at the University of Nairobi, graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and obtained her veterinary license.
From the second year of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Nairobi until graduation, I utilized every break to visit the Kenya Wildlife Service and consistently shadowed a veterinarian for study. While most other students returned to their hometowns for long breaks, I could not return home due to the distance, and instead dedicated her time to the Wildlife Service to gain experience.
Past and Future Activities
The Mara Conservancy
After graduating from the University of Nairobi, she completed a two-year livestock project and a vaccine project. In 2008, she was employed by the Mara Conservancy, the management facility for the Maasai Mara National Reserve, where she worked for 17 years.
She primarily advanced five projects: the Vaccine Project, the Tracker Dog Project, the Detection Dog Project, the Mara-Sola Project, and Wildlife Treatment. She has since retired, handing these five projects over to her younger successors.
Immediately after graduating from university, I went alone to the Maasai Mara and began a camp life. Since there was little I could do by myself at first, I started the Vaccine Project by soliciting donations.
Then, as now, I write articles on my own website and solicit donations. Initially, I relied on my personal contacts, primarily in the US and Japan, to raise funds.
Vaccine Project
In 2007, Dr. Takita launched a project to vaccinate surrounding dogs and cats against canine distemper and rabies in order to protect the carnivores within the Maasai Mara National Reserve from infectious diseases. Starting alone, she successfully vaccinated 500 animals, along with just one assistant.
The following year, the number increased to 8,000, and in the busiest year, they vaccinated as many as 10,000 dogs.
This work is now recognized and implemented as an official Mara Conservancy project across the entire reserve. This initiative has since been handed off by her, and they currently vaccinate between 5,000 and 7,000 dogs annually.
Tracker and Detection Dog Projects
In the Tracker Dog Project, dog-handler teams search for and arrest poachers. In the Detection Dog Project, dog-handler teams find illegal items such as ivory, firearms, and illegal wildlife trophies.
Both projects are constantly fraught with danger; it is commonplace for handlers, who physically walk the dogs, to be trampled by buffalo or shot by poachers. It is a world where one faces death either by wildlife or by poachers.
Mara-Sola Project
This involved locating herds of rhinos and elephants from the air using a small aircraft and guiding them back into the reserve. Dr. Takita herself served as the pilot for these flights.
Wildlife Treatment
Upon receiving a report of an injured wild animal, Dr. Takita heads to the site to provide treatment. This is a job that can only be done by a wildlife veterinarian. She has treated a wide range of animals, including giraffes, zebras, buffalo, elands, lions, cheetahs, hyenas, and warthogs.
The animals she treats are mainly large species. Very small animals are usually not treated because the necessary anesthesia is too strong for them. She noted that she has never treated an animal smaller than a hyena.
Many staff members sustained major injuries, such as having their legs crushed by rhinos, suffering broken bones, or having parts of their bodies severed, making it an extremely dangerous workplace. Fortunately, I never suffered a major injury myself. However, as it is undeniably a high-risk job, I decided to step down and pass the role to the younger generation before sustaining an injury.
In order to escape from wild animals, a veterinarian must always be able to move quickly; a lack of agility can easily lead to serious injury. As one ages, movement inevitably becomes slower, which increases the likelihood of sustaining major injuries.
Another reason for leaving the Mara Conservancy was the inability to visit my children. As long as I was working in the reserve, there was no way of knowing when an emergency call might come in, which inevitably meant that my family was prioritized less, and I had very little time with my children over the years.
I decided to take the plunge and resign from the reserve job before my son graduated from high school, resolving to put my family time first from now on.
Tears of the African Elephant
This organization was established in 2012 with Dr. Takita’s friend to protect African elephants, and it continues its activities today. In Kenya, the organization collaborates on the various projects she has been carrying out at the Mara Conservancy. Additionally, led primarily by members in Japan, they conduct various other initiatives such as the Rhino Project and the Global March.
Recently, they have been processing the purchase and permit acquisition for new anesthetic darts in preparation for their next project.
In preparation for the new “Tears of the African Elephant” projects, I resigned from the Mara Conservancy. Going forward, I plan to focus primarily on the following two new projects under the organization’s name.
Wildlife Treatment
She is planning to operate in areas that wildlife veterinarians have not previously visited. She will continue the treatment and conservation of large wild animals that she has specialized in.
Satellite Tracking
Satellite tracking is an activity that allows us to understand the ecology of marine life by attaching GPS devices and tracking them via satellite. This project is carried out by various organizations in many locations, including from Mozambique to Tanzania in Africa, and in other countries like New Zealand. However, data from Kenya has not been collected.
Therefore, Dr. Takita plans to launch a project to begin providing this data in the future. As there are very few veterinarians who specialize in marine conservation in Kenya, she also intends this project to serve as a foundation for other veterinarians to enter this field.
She plans to travel to Tanzania in November to learn methods for satellite tracking whale sharks.
I hope to utilize my accumulated experience and skills to participate in conservation efforts for animals that have not yet been reached, such as those in unserved regions and marine mammals.
“Tears of the African Elephant” is currently soliciting donations! If you are interested, please check out our website by clicking the button here.
About Wildlife Veterinarians
I asked Dr. Takita in detail about her main duties and her perspective on the ideal image of a wildlife veterinarian.
- How is the treatment of wildlife carried out?
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Upon receiving a report of an injured animal, we head to the site and first assess whether treatment should be administered. We then determine if the animal was injured by humans or by other wild animals. If human involvement is suspected, we perform necessary procedures such as removing snares.
Conversely, if the animal has a low chance of recovery, we perform euthanasia.
Following treatment, the animal is immediately released back into the wild. Because we use the extremely strong anesthetic etorphine, animals that are already very weak have a high likelihood of dying from the anesthesia itself, even when darted for protection. We identify such animals and avoid engaging with them from the outset.
- How did you manage to balance your work as a wildlife veterinarian with raising children?
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I would not have been able to manage this balance without the help of my maid, who has been with us for 15 years. While working as a wildlife veterinarian, I could only visit my children about four times a month. Before I knew it, my children had grown up.
The work of a wildlife veterinarian is similar to that of the military, where one must carry out their duties regardless of the circumstances. All wildlife veterinarians must prioritize wild animals above everything else. The next priority is the reserve, and the next is oneself. This inevitably places one’s own family even lower on the priority list.
With emergency reports on wild animals potentially coming in at any time, even on holidays, it was impossible to plan anything in advance. As a result, I was never able to attend any of my children’s school events. Even when my children were sick, if I could not leave work, our maid would take them to the hospital and care for them.
It was common to drive six hours just to get home and spend the weekend with my children, only to receive a call the next morning asking me to return on an 8 a.m. flight.
That is what it means to be a veterinarian in a reserve. There was no work-life balance; I was fully dedicated to the job.
- What do you think is the role of a wildlife veterinarian?
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First, the role involves treating non-human animals. This includes treating animals injured by human-caused incidents, such as being stabbed by spears or shot by arrows.
Next, it is about upholding One Health. Specifically, a veterinarian must know how to halt zoonotic diseases that move among humans, wildlife, and the environment, such as canine distemper. This includes administering vaccines to stop the spread of infection, and performing necropsies to identify the cause of the infection. Identifying a disease through necropsy determines the appropriate response—for example, whether the pathogen is mediated only among wild animals, whether it has the potential to infect humans, or whether it needs to be reported to the Livestock Hygiene Service Center.
Relocating problematic wildlife is also a crucial veterinary role. Specifically, this involves moving herds of elephants that raid crops or attack people back into the reserve. Since this duty involves human lives and potential compensation for damages, it can only be carried out by Kenyan civil servants. This is similar to how bears and wild boar are managed in Japan.
- What qualities do you think are required of a wildlife veterinarian?
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A wildlife veterinarian requires quick decision-making skills and the ability to maneuver the necessary team and equipment according to their instructions in a way that minimizes stress on the wild animal.
When darting a wild animal with anesthesia, the veterinarian must immediately plan and issue instructions from the air. This includes planning how to herd the animal using the terrain, such as cliffs; how to move air and ground units (helicopters and cars) to drive the animal; and where to position the staff with the anesthetic darts. This means the veterinarian must fully understand all aspects of the terrain and the herding process.
For instance, if a giraffe needs to be cornered within 1 km of a cliff, the veterinarian must instantly assess whether there is enough time to administer the anesthetic before the animal reaches the edge. They must judge the estimated time until the dart takes effect for an animal of that size and make the immediate decision on whether or not to proceed with treatment.
The foremost priority is to avoid worsening an animal’s condition or causing its death due to intervention. If an animal needs euthanasia because it suffered a fracture after being chased with an anesthetic dart, or if it dies due to an overly strong dose of anesthetic, it means my initial assessment of whether to proceed with treatment was incorrect.
If an animal is chased, falls, and suffers a fracture, it becomes difficult to release it back into the wild, necessitating euthanasia. If the injury is minor, the negative effects of stress from chasing and anesthesia are often greater, so we generally do not administer treatment unless a clear injury, such as a lodged spear or arrow, is confirmed.
Furthermore, even when we decide to treat, various risks are always present. For example, when an animal is lying down under anesthesia, its organs can press on the diaphragm, causing it to stop breathing. Giraffes, for instance, can suffer from shock due to hypotension when darted. It is crucial to be aware of all these risks and communicate the necessary precautions to the rangers who are working alongside you.
- When do you feel that this job was worthwhile?
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Although it is rare to encounter the wild animals I have treated, it is when I accidentally see an animal that has recovered and is healthy again. Since a wrong decision could further burden the animal through the treatment process, seeing an animal recover brings immense joy.
- What message do you have for veterinary students who are interested in wildlife conservation?
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As I mentioned earlier, in wildlife conservation, the decision of whether or not to administer treatment is the most crucial one. Therefore, aside from the therapeutic knowledge you acquire in your veterinary studies, you also need zoological knowledge to evaluate and judge if treatment is appropriate.
For example, what would you do if you found a lion cub alone? Many might think it should be rescued. However, if you intervene and raise it on beef—which humans can easily obtain—that lion will be unable to hunt wild prey, becoming a livestock killer that preys on domestic animals, and will eventually be killed by humans. Even if you manage to feed it wild meat and release it, it won’t be able to join a pride, becoming a nomad that will ultimately be killed by a dominant male lion.
While it is possible to keep it in a cage, the stress for an animal born and raised in the wild is immeasurable. It would never be a happy existence. In short, once you intervene, the animal is doomed to be killed by humans, killed by another lion, or spend its life in a cage. There is no point in raising such a lion for a year.
Therefore, if you want to get involved in wildlife conservation, you must thoroughly learn about the natural ecology of the target species in the field of zoology, in addition to veterinary medicine, to judge whether your intervention is necessary.
Furthermore, this job is highly specialized, so gaining hands-on experience in the field is just as important as accumulating knowledge. For instance, if you do not carefully consider how long the anesthetic will last before making a treatment decision, you risk releasing a bloody, recently recovered animal into the wild right as hyenas begin to roam at night. It would almost certainly not survive. Young veterinarians must gain experience by confronting these challenges.
Postscript
Thank you for reading this far!
I previously had only limited knowledge, having heard briefly in university lectures about how veterinarians are involved in wildlife conservation. However, after hearing Dr. Takita’s insights, I realized that it is veterinarians who must lead this industry.
Although the job of a wildlife veterinarian is tough—constantly fraught with danger and unpredictability—I have learned that it is a wonderful profession worth dedicating one’s life to, as it allows one to engage most directly with animal lives and the Earth’s ecosystem.
I would be delighted if any veterinary students are inspired by Dr. Takita’s work after reading this article.
