Marc Goss is CEO and pilot for the Mara Elephant Project,
an organisation that supports conservation by deploying rangers.
Across this huge territory, a helicopter is by far the best way
to protect elephants and other wildlife.
One herd has been attacked nearby.
As farmers tried to protect their crops,
an adult elephant was hit by an arrow.
In the two jeeps,
a team of vets has come to treat the injured animal.
To sedate it, they need to dart the elephant with a tranquiliser gun...
..but the herd is retreating into the bush.
OK, we're just flying right above this herd.
Got a glimpse of the elephant that's injured,
but what we're trying to do is push them out of the thicket so that...
..they can get a clear view of them,
a clear shot of the elephant that needs the help.
In emergencies like this, the helicopter comes into its own...
..as the noise helps to drive the elephants into the open.
Marc and I join the team on the ground, led by Dr Limo.
We've got a clear shot of it.
Right in the open.
OK, he's got the dart. He's got the dart in now.
The injured elephant takes refuge amongst the herd...
..but minutes later, the tranquiliser takes effect.
To safely give the elephant the care she needs,
the rangers are trying to keep the rest of the herd away...
..but that's easier said than done.
Elephants are highly social creatures with strong bonds.
We're just trying to scare off the other elephant.
It's really reluctant to leave.
It just shows you how...
..compassionate elephants are,
that despite we've got three vehicles trying to chase it away,
it just doesn't want to leave.
Now she's fully sedated, Dr Limo can treat her.
There's just one wound on her, bang in the middle of her side.
Obviously she's a big target.
It's gory stuff, but while she's under, she'll feel no pain.
These arrows would have been attached to a long shaft,
but obviously once they've hit
and the elephant's running through the bush,
the wooden part of it's come off.
OK.
Wow. Look at this.
Look, it's got all those barbs, huh?
Wow.
So that wasn't going to come out unless...
Yeah. ..we pulled it out.
Yeah. That's an evil one, that. Isn't it? Jeez.
Weapons like this do real damage...
..but for the farmers who fired this arrow,
elephants are a threat to their livelihood.
To them, this was pure survival. An act of self-defence.
There was a time when none of this was necessary
because there was enough space for people
and there was enough space for elephants.
Big migratory animals need a lot of space...
..and we are robbing that space from elephants.
That's how the conflict arises.
And this is life for elephants living in this part of Africa.
Yeah, she's already kind of starting to come to.
There was a flap of the ears, her trunk twitched.
It's unbelievable, really.
Amazing that in under 45 minutes you can sedate an elephant,
treat it and get it back on its feet.
So it's very, very impressive.
That was quick.
Yeah.
As the elephant rejoins her herd, another call comes in.
It's all just... all just kicked off.
There is a baby elephant with a snare on its trunk.
So I'm going to go with Marc and try and get the snare off the baby.
With more people living in the Mara,
there's also been an increase in the amount of poaching for bushmeat.
Simple looped wire snares
are used to catch anything from wildebeest to warthogs.
But elephants can also get trapped.
They do a lot of snaring that cut trunks off elephants.
So, especially down on the border where we get a lot of snaring,
you find elephants with short trunks.
But that's really a crime, in many cases, of poverty,
so they don't have the alternative income,
so they resort to a life of poaching.
We arrive to find the calf still has a snare
caught tightly around its mouth.
It's vital we remove it as quickly as possible.
It's hard to see a calf in so much distress...
..but he'll only survive if the team can treat him.
We're just on the ground.
We're trying to get the wire off without having to sedate...
..sedate the calf.
The calf is just a year old
and the team know that if they sedate him,
he could have trouble finding his mother again.
To increase his chances of survival,
the team needs to keep him conscious
and restrain him while the snare is removed.
It may look brutal, but these are trained experts,
who have done this many times before.
Thankfully there's a Leatherman in there, and it's very sharp
and it's just able to snip one bit of the wire, bit-by-bit.
There we go. There we go.
ELEPHANT GROANS
All off? All off?
They've washed out the wound.
I can't show you this in any detail cos it's too...
..it's too mad.
ELEPHANT GROWLS
ELEPHANT GROANS
Snare injuries are often fatal...
..but thanks to a speedy aerial response,
the prospects this time look good.
The calf is on its feet, on its way...
..a million times better off than it was...
..ten minutes ago.
This calf got lucky and was later reunited with his mother...
..but the only thing that will stop this happening to elephants
is an improvement in living standards for the people
who share this land.
Hopefully, as education and job prospects improve,
this kind of hunting will happen less.
Until then, the aerial patrol is a valuable resource.