Wildlife species often require anaesthesia for veterinary care or relocation, but this process can be risky, especially for species like zebras, rhinos, and crocodilians. To improve safety and animal welfare, our research investigates the effects of capture drugs and tests safer anaesthetic combinations to support better outcomes in conservation and veterinary practice.

Challenge       

Wild species sometimes require chemical immobilisation or anaesthesia for veterinary treatment or management interventions such as translocations. As for any animal, safe and predictable species-specific capture drug protocols are very important for wild species. However, anaesthesia of some wildlife species (such as rhinos, zebras, and crocodilians) can be challenging even for specialist zoo and wildlife veterinarians, and every capture event bears a small but significant risk of morbidity and mortality.

Solution 

Our research group aims to improve understanding of the physiology and pharmacology of wildlife capture drugs by conducting both controlled capture drug trials and collecting opportunistic data from immobilized and anaesthetised wild animals.

Our current research projects include:

• Identifying safer anaesthetic drug combinations for zebras

Our research group works to improve wildlife health and welfare during capture and transportation. Zebras are not just striped horses - we can't use tried-and-tested domestic equine anaesthetic protocols when we work with zebras in the field, because we have to administer drugs remotely via dart. In this study, we are testing three different drug combinations to try to establish which is safest for the animals when they need to be captured for veterinary treatments or translocations.

Impact      

Improving our understanding of capture drug physiology will enable us to make informed drug protocol recommendations for veterinarians working with wildlife, which has the potential to not only reduce morbidity and mortality but also improve welfare during captures. The goal is to improve animal health post-intervention and enhance the success of conservation and management efforts. Our research also provides learning opportunities for veterinary students and specialists in training.