David Pretorius, [12 Sep 2023 at 13:56:31]:
Does anyone know details of what happened?
Henry Labuschagne, [12 Sep 2023 at 17:38:21]:
Human - hippo conflict.
HO Reuter, [12 Sep 2023 at 23:27:26]:
As you all know hippo capture can be (mostly is) quite challenging. Having lost a hippo drowning post darting before, and having at a previous occasion been able to “chase” a hippo out of a small dam by dragging a capture net across and then darting it successfully, we tried to do this again. Eventually we did get this poor hippo cow and her calf darted, loaded and released. But the net option was discontinued after this traumatic incident for the hippo cow, vehicle owner, driver and staff. Sometimes we get away lightly with human hippo conflict….
Erik Verrynne, [13 Sep 2023 at 06:27:38]:
Thanks HO. Good to know all went well in the end. Hope the damage was not too much.
That was a close shave but those that did not have close shaves, have not darted enough.
What dosages did you use in the end?
HO Reuter, [15 Sep 2023 at 06:45:07]:
Hi Eric,
This specific hippo cow was one of those “challenging” capture experiences. It was a group of 3 hippo that were sold - an old cow, mature younger cow and a 2-year old bull calf that had separated from the rest of the hippo on this farm to settle in a small (but still deep enough) dam away from the rest of the hippo.
They were very skittish. A dart in the nose of the hippo cow did nothing, maybe sprayed into the nasal cavity? I had previously good success with hippo leaving a small dam by dragging a capture net through with vehicles either side and thought to try this. As the cow went out, I darted her, but the dart ended up and subcutaneously and oblique on the shoulder (that showed no effect). She then decided to storm the Landcruiser (as in the video clip) which could have obviously ended up very much worse. Eventually, after a few more darts in the nose, (and water), behind the ear, on her back and neck she was immobilised, dragged to shore, placed on belting with crate in front of her ready to be winched in. One blink of the eye and the next moment she dragged us back into the deep water. I think hippo metabolise drugs faster than other mammals. A few darts later we eventually loaded her in the crate.
The dose I intended using (and have previously with good results) was 155 mg butorphanol and 85 mg medetomidine, Once the drug takes effect, drag the animal to the shore and inject / dart with 100 mg water-based perphenazine (perphenazine hydrochloride) and 300 mg Zoletil. (A tragic previous experience with using azaperone and ketamine together with medetomidine and butorphanol initially with hippo in a deep dam resulted in drowning). The trick is to get good dart placement (5cc dart with minimum 3 inch needle), and handle the hippo quickly, with appropriate top up drugs early enough before they “wake up” again). Once darting is spread over a few hours as a result of poor dart placement, it becomes impossible to know what dosages are in, and effect difficult to assess (repeated 1/2 doses too far apart just keep the hippo effected but not down). I found darts in the nose very unpredictable in effect (even though the easiest or only option to dart when they were in the water and skittish).
The bull calf we managed to dart and load smoothly with 1/2 the above dose a day later. The other mature female joined up with the other hippo, (even though they did not really want her back)....
Andreas Gaugler, [15 Sep 2023 at 08:17:29]:
Very stupid question HO
But could it be that the 155 mg Butorphanol was too high?
Thanks for sharing valuable info
Henry Labuschagne, [15 Sep 2023 at 09:09:57]:
Surely if you dart in the lip/ jaw muscle, a 1¼ " needle would be fine?
Erik Verrynne, [15 Sep 2023 at 09:12:03]:
Thanks for taking the time to share this with us HO. The art of chemical immobilization is not in the ones that go well, but the difficult ones. I am planning a hippo project and sharing your experiences are amazingly helpful.
Dickson Wambura, [15 Sep 2023 at 14:54:56]:
Nice experience from you HO, a few years back (experience from Tanzania) we used Butorphanol 150mg, Medetomidine 60mg and Azaperone 150mg. Dart placement determines the induction time. The animals were getting the effects but not smooth as we expected so we had to top up with Ketamine 250mg. We realized that ketamine is quickly metabolised so we couldn't manage to handle the hippo in an easy way so we opted to test using Zotelil 200mg. The animals went down smoothly and handled successfully. One thing to note is, don't use Zoletil when a hippo is still in water it suffers drowning very quickly as you experienced it.
If BAM + Zoletil goes well, the animal can be transported for up to 2hrs, then you only reverse the effects of medetomidine using atipamezole.