Bongo Antelope Chemical Immobilization and Sedation

The bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus) the largest and most colorful of the African forest antelopes. It is also the third heaviest antelope, after the giant eland and common eland.¹ The bongo has relatively short legs and hind legs that are higher and more developed than the forelegs. The bongo and eland are the only tragelaphines in which both males and females have horns. The bongo’s striking coloration and stripes actually serve to conceal it in the forest, where its markings disrupt its outline. Bongos are primarily browsers, consuming the foliage of up to 80 different kinds of trees, bushes, forbs, and vines.

There are two bongo subspecies. The larger mountain bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci) lives in areas of mountain forest between 7,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level in the Kenya highlands. They live in small herds which include young calves that are usually accompanied by a bull during the mating season. The lowland bongo (T. eurycerus eurycerus) lives in the lowland rainforests bordering the savannas from western Africa and the Congo basin to southwestern Sudan.² Adult males are usually solitary.

Reasons for the Chemical Immobilization and Sedation of Bongo

Research, zoo applications, conservation and management programs often require the capture and manipulation of bongo. Although the development of minimally invasive procedures over the years have allowed researchers, veterinarians and management personnel to obtain some data without the need to handle animals, some information can only be obtained by capturing individual animals.²

Each species of antelope has its own anesthesia recommendations with intra-species variations of dosages because of diverse individual responses to anesthetic agents.^3,4 The capture of bongo can involve risk of mortality, reduction in survival probability or injury of individual animals. Mortality is the most important factor when evaluating the safety level of a capture methodology. In the case of mortality occurring during capture, this rate is rather easy to measure, while delayed mortality is much more difficult to determine.

The effects of immobilization on bongo antelope can considerably differ according to the capture methodology employed. The relevant published research agrees that captures by remote delivery of immobilizing drugs via darting lower an antelope’s stress levels, thus decreasing the subsequent capture effects compared to other techniques.³ This is one of the main reasons why chemical immobilization is becoming the preferred capture method, particularly when dealing with large animals like bongo.

Drugs Used for Chemical Immobilization of Bongo

There are three basic classes of central nervous system immobilization drugs that are used on bongo antelope:

• Cyclohexamines
• Neuroleptics
• Opioids

 Cyclohexamines

• Also known as dissociative agents
• Produce altered consciousness
• Dissociate mental state from environmental stimulation.
• Retain many vital reflexes
• The animal cannot walk but can move tongue, blink, swallow
• The animal may feel some pain
• Common cyclohexamines include Ketamine, tiletamine
• Cyclohexamines should not be used alone and are not reversible
• Should be used in conjunction with other drugs, such as neuroleptics

Neuroleptics 

• Also referred to as tranquilizers
• Produce calmness and relaxation
• Do not cause loss of consciousness or alleviate pain perception
• Can cause death before they cause loss of consciousness
• Used in conjunction with other drugs (e.g., cyclohexamines)
• Common neuroleptics include zolazepam, diazepam, xylazine
• Common reversal agents include yohimbine, tolazoline

Opioids 

• The most potent drugs available for immobilization
• Availability of specific antagonists
• Reduced volume of drugs are typically required
• Most practical for remote immobilization of large animals
• Potentially toxic to humans

Chemical Immobilization Techniques for Bongo

In a zoo setting, less stress on an individual bongo is likely to occur than in the field, as zoo animals tend to be far more acclimatized to humans and procedures. In some cases, intramuscular hand injection can be used when working with zoo animals that are cooperative, or those that have been cornered in squeeze cages or enclosures. When hand injecting, rapid delivery while minimizing risk to the handler or animal is essential. Pole syringes are also widely used in this application; these afford greater distance than approaching an animal for a hand injection without resorting to remote delivery systems. Drug delivery by pole syringe requires manual injection follow through to administer the drug, as the handle is usually a direct extension of the plunger. As with hand injection, larger bore needles should be used to ensure complete drug delivery.

Remote chemical immobilization is usually carried out by approaching bongo and shooting a dart from an off-road vehicle or from the ground on foot. While this can significantly reduce stress compared to physical capture methods, it still impacts an animal’s stress levels. Frightened antelope will have an increased heart rate, higher levels of cortisol and other stress-related biochemicals.² An approach from the ground tends to produce even lower stress levels in bongo, because animals are generally less frightened than if a noisy vehicle is used. On the other hand, this can be more difficult to accomplish with the forest-dwelling bongo, because it requires a closer approach with animals that are extremely alert, fast and agile.

Analgesia is essential if the bongo’s skin has been breached by anything larger than a hypodermic needle, including biopsy instruments. Invasive surgeries should be conducted using general anesthetics with the animal at a surgical plane; intraoperative analgesia that continues after anesthetic recovery should be provided in some form to every surgical patient.¹ For analgesic drugs, doses and frequencies of administration are more difficult to gauge, even with close clinical observation for discomfort.⁴ These observations can be even more difficult to make in the field than in a clinic or zoo setting, compounding the difficulty in such assessments.

Most of the opioid analgesics (Buprenorphine, Fentanyl, Butorphenol, Oxymorphone, etc.) administered in the early evening, for example, will not be effective after 12 hours. Longer‐lasting, non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory analgesics (NSAIDs) such as Meloxicam, Carprofen, Flunixin, Ketoprofen,etc. have longer durations of action than opioids, and can be administered in conjunction with opioids to increase potency of effect and duration of action.⁵

Reversal Agents for Bongo Antelope

Whether general anesthesia or sedation has been used, reversal agents are often required to neutralize sedation or anesthetic agents, thus allowing the antelope to completely recover from being anesthetized. This is even more important in the field than in a clinic or zoo setting, because a chemically-compromised animal will be in danger of injury, predation and other hazards.

Duration of anesthesia is influenced by the drugs used, age, sex, body weight, procedure performed and the amount of stimulus during the procedure. Due to all the factors that influence duration of anesthesia, the literature maintains that anesthetic drugs should always be titrated to effect. If anesthesia is being maintained by a gas anesthetic (e.g., isoflurane), titration of anesthetic depth can be controlled almost immediately by adjusting the amount of anesthetic gas being administered to the animal. In addition, anesthetic duration can be extended for as long as the anesthetic gas is administered.⁵

Injectable anesthetics and sedatives do not have this flexibility. Here, reversal drugs are used to bring about the desired effect.

Atipamezole is a synthetic α2-adrenergic antagonist. Developed to reverse the actions of compounds such as medetomidine and dexmedetomidine, atipamezole safely and reliably reverses the effects of these compounds and is widely used in small and large animal practices, as well as in wildlife applications.⁷

Naltrexone hydrochloride is an opioid receptor antagonist that is used in veterinary medicine to block receptors as a reversal agent for opiate agonists such as butorphanol. It is also used for the treatment of recurring, compulsive animal behavior disorders such as tail-chasing and self-mutilation such as acral lick dermatitis. The time from administration to Naltrexone taking full effect is reported to be between 1 to 2 hours. The effects of this medication are short-lived, meaning they will stop working within 24 hours, although the benefits may be prolonged if an animal has decreased kidney and/or liver function.⁷

Given concerns in the area of conservation and humane treatment, great care has been taken with chemical immobilization protocols and drug development to keep these within safety margins through the use of novel anesthetics, including combinations of true anesthetics, neuromuscular blockers and tranquilizers.² Thus, modern chemical immobilization techniques have dramatically reduced the side-effects of drugs and mortalities. Additionally, the use of antagonists to anesthetics is now widely employed, as this avoids the undesirable and potentially harmful effects of drugs and facilitates speedy recovery from chemical immobilization events.^1,2

In recent years, veterinary custom compounding pharmacies have widely expanded the variety, availability and efficacy of immobilizing drugs through the development of custom formulations for wildlife such as antelope. One such formulation is the MKBM™ Kit, an original formulation containing:

• Medetomidine hcl 20 mg/ml
• Ketamine hcl 100 mg/ml
• Butorphanol 30 mg/ml
• Midazolam 20mg/ml

The MKBM™ Kit also includes the reversal agents:

• Atipamezole 40mg/ml
• Naltrexone 50 mg/ml

The MKBM™ Kit was developed for the chemical immobilization of numerous large exotic hoofstock species. It is an excellent choice for anesthetizing antelope, bongo, kudu, gazelle, eland, as well as other African hoofstock and certain domestic wildlife species.

Overall, the drug formulations currently available for immobilizing bongo and other large wildlife species have been refined to a degree that eliminates much of the risk that existed just a few years ago. With the right drug formulations, proper planning and safety precautions in place, experienced personnel can have the expectation of effective and incident-free chemical immobilization of bongo antelope.

¹awf.org.

²Powell RA, Proulx G (2003) Trapping and marking terrestrial mammals for research: integrating ethics, performance criteria, techniques, and common sense. ILAR J 44: 259–276.

³Arnemo, Jon & Kreeger, Terry. (2018). Handbook of Wildlife Chemical Immobilization 5th Ed.

⁴Nielsen, L. Chemical Immobilization of Wild and Exotic Animals. (1999) Ames, Iowa, Iowa State University Press.

⁵Lance, W. Exotic Hoof Stock Anesthesia and Analgesia: Best Practices. In: Proceedings, NAVC Conference 2008, pp. 1914-15.

⁶Ball, L. Antelope Anesthesia. Wiley Online Library, 25 July 2014.

⁷Plumb’s Veterinary Drugs.

About NexGen Pharmaceuticals

NexGen Pharmaceuticals is an industry-leading veterinary compounding pharmacy, offering sterile and non-sterile compounding services nationwide. Unlike other veterinary compounding pharmacies, NexGen focuses on drugs that are difficult to find or are no longer available due to manufacturer discontinuance or have yet to be offered commercially for veterinary applications, but which still serve a critical need for our customers. We also specialize in wildlife pharmaceuticals, including sedatives and their antagonists, offering many unique options to serve a wide array of zoo animal and wildlife immobilization and anesthesia requirements.

Our pharmacists are also encouraged to develop strong working relationships with our veterinarians in order to better care for veterinary patients. Such relationships foster an ever-increasing knowledge base upon which pharmacists and veterinarians can draw, making both significantly more effective in their professional roles.

Disclaimer

The information contained in this blog post is general in nature and is intended for use as an informational aid. It does not cover all possible uses, actions, precautions, side effects, or interactions of the medications shown, nor is the information intended as medical advice or diagnosis for individual health problems or for making an evaluation as to the risks and benefits of using a particular medication. You should consult your veterinarian about diagnosis and treatment of any health problems. Information and statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"), nor has the FDA approved the medications to diagnose, cure or prevent disease. Medications compounded by NexGen Pharmaceuticals are prepared at the direction of a veterinarian. NexGen Pharmaceuticals compounded veterinary preparations are not intended for use in food and food-producing animals.

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