Safety and Efficacy of Nalbuphine, Medetomidine, and Azaperone for Immobilizing Aoudad (Ammotragus lervia)

J Wildl Dis. 2022 Jul 1;58(3):636-640. doi: 10.7589/JWD-D-21-00120.

Abstract

We evaluated the safety and efficacy of nalbuphine (40 mg/mL), plus medetomidine (10 mg/mL), plus azaperone (10 mg/mL) under the premixed label NalMed-A. From January to March 2020, 10 aoudad (Ammotragus lervia) were immobilized via dart-gun for seven separate sampling periods for a total of 45 recorded individual immobilization events. Induction and reversal times with NalMed-A were 5.53±2.61 min and (following atipamezole administration) 5.08±2.43 min while previous studies with alpha-2 agonist-ketamine combinations gave median and average induction times of 4.6 min and 11.2 min using medetomidine-ketamine and xylazine-ketamine, respectively. Overall, NalMed-A adequately immobilized aoudad, with 13% incidence of hyperthermia and 2.22% mortality when delivered via dart.

Keywords: Aoudad; Barbary sheep; NalMed-A; chemical immobilization; induction time; reversal time.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Azaperone / pharmacology
  • Drug Combinations
  • Hypnotics and Sedatives / pharmacology
  • Immobilization / veterinary
  • Ketamine* / pharmacology
  • Medetomidine / pharmacology
  • Nalbuphine* / pharmacology
  • Ruminants

Substances

  • Drug Combinations
  • Hypnotics and Sedatives
  • Azaperone
  • Ketamine
  • Nalbuphine
  • Medetomidine