Habituating antelope and bison to cooperate with veterinary procedures

Abstract

Undomesticated, wild, nonhuman animals with an excitable temperament frequently sustain injuries when handled for veterinary procedures such as blood sampling or injections. Both bison and antelope may become agitated when they are restrained, often resulting in broken horns. Also, antelope may panic when restraint is forced on them suddenly. This research group has successfully trained both Bongo and Nyala antelope to enter a box voluntarily for food rewards. While quiet, nonsedated antelope were standing in the box, blood samples were taken from their rear legs. Three Bongo antelope who had been conditioned to stand in the box had low cortisol levels that averaged 4.4 ± 3.4 ng/ml in a male and 8.5 ± 4.7 ng/ml in two females. The unsedated animals were held in the box for 10-20 min to allow cortisol levels to rise. These values were much lower than cortisol levels reported in the literature for restrained unsedated wild ruminants and domestic cattle who are not habituated to restraint. Because antelope are flighty animals, each new step in the conditioning process had to be introduced in very small steps to prevent panic. In another experiment, bison calves were trained to walk through the handling chutes for feed rewards. In both species, avoiding panic is important, especially in the early stages of training.