Since then, he has been instrumental to efforts to bring back African wildlife to areas where it has been extirpated. In the helicopter, Kobus Raath, the park's chief veterinarian, loads his rifle, leans out the door and rapidly fires eight darts, one for the rump of each elephant. Bulls, cows and calves stagger around for five or six minutes before collapsing into gray heaps. Coetzee and his team, which for this operation includes members of Kruger Park's game-capture unit as well as local Shangaan trackers, move quickly. While some of the workers tie together the elephants' feet with thick ropes, others spray-paint a number on the side of each animal and pour buckets of water over the sleeping giants' heads and ears.
Elephants have in their ears a network of veins that functions as a cooling system.
The splash bath helps keep the drugged animals from overheating. Meanwhile, veterinarians check the elephants' blood pressure, examine teeth for age, take blood samples and make sure the downed beasts are breathing properly. Coetzee drags a huge, black rubber sheet next to a big cow. Everyone strains against the weight of the elephant. Literally tumbled head over heels, the matriarch rolls onto the rubber mat.