Wounds in Camels During Chemical Immobilization
Capture and chemical immobilization events carry inherent risks to wildlife regardless of species or size, but these are often more pronounced when dealing with larger species such as camels and other hoofstock. These risks include complications like capture myopathy, aspiration, dehydration, hypothermia, hyperthermia, respiratory depression and/or arrest and cardiac arrest. The majority of these complications can come about as the direct result of chemical immobilization, either due to inadvertent overdose, comorbidities or underlying sensitivities in individual animals.
One complication that is often considered less serious than others, but which must be seriously considered, is that of wounds incurred during capture events. These can occur as a result of an animal attempting to flee prior to immobilization, as it loses physical coordination during take-down after darting or (rarely) from the darts themselves.1
Physical injuries are one of the most common threats to wild animals. In some cases, animals may incur severe injuries that kill them directly. In other cases, their injuries can affect them in ways that are indirectly fatal. Discounting human-related causes, these can come about as the result of a variety of events, such as evading predators, fighting for mates or territory and accidents. Even when an animal doesn’t die as a direct or indirect result of an injury, it can be left in a permanently compromised state or with chronic pain.2
When an animal suffers a wound during capture/chemical immobilization, ethical imperatives dictate that those undertaking the required research or wildlife management protocols make every effort to ensure that the animal is promptly treated so that it can make as complete a recovery as is possible.
Camel Basics and Background
Camels are ruminants that are native to the desert areas of northern Africa, western Asia and central and east Asia. There are two main species of camel: the dromedary camel (Camelus dromedaries, or the Arabian camel) and the Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus). The dromedary camel has a single hump and lives in the warmer areas of western Asia and Arabia; the Bactrian camel has two humps and is native to east Asia.
Camels were first domesticated between 3,000 to 3,500 years ago.3 They were used almost exclusively as pack animals on the Silk Road, the network of routes once used by traders between Europe and Asia.4 This was chiefly because they could carry more weight than horses or donkeys, needed less water and were able to thrive on tough desert plants.
The management and research of camels often requires chemical immobilization. Unfortunately, this can lead to a variety of capture‐induced risks while these animals are chemically immobilized.
In the 1840's, dromedary camels were introduced into Australia to assist in the exploration of the inland regions of the continent. Today, there are over one million feral camels in the rangeland ecosystems of Australia.5 Unfortunately, these animals are causing significant damage to the natural environment.
Radio-collared camels are now being used to enhance population control programs. This involves immobilizing individual camels, attaching a telemetry collar, and releasing the collared animal to re-join its herd. The collared individuals are then tracked via GPS and communications satellites.5 This routinely-performed procedure carries the risk of inducing shock in these animals as a direct result of chemical immobilization.
Treatment of Wounds in Camels
Most camel injuries connected with capture events are experienced when attempting to flee human pursuers,1 and the most common injuries suffered are lacerations. This tends to be far less likely to occur than in other large hoofstock due to the camel’s high level of domestication, but it can still occur. While remote drug delivery via darts themselves are unlikely to result in a serious injury, darting can on occasion result in minor lacerations. Finally, in some cases an animal may need to be immobilized specifically for the treatment of a serious wound it has suffered due to other causes.
The first step will be to clean the wound. In the case of small, shallow lacerations, this can be done by flushing with a commercial povidone-iodine or other scrub solution. Deeper wounds can be flushed with povidone-iodine diluted with saline, and should generally not be sutured to allow for drainage.1 The current literature recommends high volume and, ideally, high-pressure irrigation unless the tissue is very delicate. The suggested lavage volume is 50 to 100 mL of fluid per centimeter of wound. Low-pressure irrigation is gentle to tissues and does not force bacteria deeper into the wound, but it does not debride as well as high-pressure irrigation, which can be performed with a pressurized fluid bag or a large syringe with an 18-gauge catheter.7
For suturing more superficial wounds that have been cleaned, a veterinarian should perform the procedure. If a veterinarian is not immediately available, non-absorbable sutures should be used.
Any animal receiving a laceration prior to or during an anesthetic event should receive systemic antibiotics to reduce the likelihood of infection. Procaine penicillin G combined with benzathine penicillin G is a common formulation is these instances. Long-acting oxytetracycine is also frequently used to treat hoofstock that have suffered lacerations.7
Considering the inherent associated with chemical immobilization, there is no way to guarantee that injuries will not occur, particularly under field conditions. That said, the drug formulations currently available for immobilizing camels and other wildlife have been refined to a degree that eliminates much of the risk that existed 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 camels the majority of cases.
1Kreeger T., Arnemo, J., Raath, J. Handbook of Wildlife Chemical Immobilization, International Edition, Wildlife Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Fort Collins, CO. (2002).
2vetfolio.com: Remote Injection Systems. https://www.vetfolio.com/learn/article/remote-inj...
7Friend, M., Thomas, N. J. Field Manual of Wildlife Diseases. In: Field Manual of Wildlife Diseases, United States Geological Survey, 361-368.
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.
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