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Anaesthesia of free-ranging Northern chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) with xylazine/ketamine and reversal with atipamezole

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Abstract

One-hundred and fifty-five free-ranging Northern chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) were anaesthetised in the course of a restocking programme using xylazine plus ketamine. Mean ± SD dosages for xylazine and ketamine were 1.9 ± 0.5 and 2.2 ± 0.7 mg/kg, respectively. In 57 chamois, sedation was reversed using 0.3 ± 0.1 mg/kg atipamezole. Although all the anaesthetic dosages tested immobilised free-ranging Northern chamois, shorter induction times (4.8 ± 2.6 min), deeper sedation with no reaction to handling in >90% of the animals and quick reversal (4.0 ± 2.7 min) were obtained using 2.5 mg/kg xylazine plus 3.0 mg/kg ketamine reversed with 0.25 mg/kg atipamezole. Under the conditions of this study, suggested standard doses are 63 mg/animal xylazine plus 76 mg/animal ketamine reversed by 6.3 mg/animal atipamezole. This anaesthetic protocol improves the results from the previous study of Dematteis et al. (Vet Rec 163:184–189, 2008) using xylazine alone.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Direction and filed staff of the Maritime Alps Natural Park for competence and dedication. The experiments in this study comply with the current Italian laws.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ce.Ri.Ge.Fa.S. Centro di Ricerca e Gestione della Fauna Selvatica, fr. Rore, 17-12020, Sampeyre (CN), Italy

    A. Dematteis & A. Menzano

  2. Maritime Alps Matural Park, Piazza Regina Elena, 30-12010, Valdieri (CN), Italy

    G. Canavese

  3. Dipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Epidemiologia ed Ecologia, Università di Torino, V. Leonardo da Vinci, 44-10095, Grugliasco (TO), Italy

    P. G. Meneguz & L. Rossi

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  1. A. Dematteis
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  2. A. Menzano
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  3. G. Canavese
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  4. P. G. Meneguz
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  5. L. Rossi
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Correspondence to A. Menzano.

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Communicated by C. Gortázar

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Dematteis, A., Menzano, A., Canavese, G. et al. Anaesthesia of free-ranging Northern chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) with xylazine/ketamine and reversal with atipamezole. Eur J Wildl Res 55, 567–573 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-009-0270-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-009-0270-7

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