MANAGEMENT OF CAPTIVE WILD ANIMALS
K.P Singh1*,Praneeta Singh2and Nidhi Arora3
- Veterinary Officer, Government Veterinary Hosptal, Deoranian, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh E mail: drkpsvet@rediffmail.com
- Assistant Professor, Department of Livestock Product Technology, C.V.A.Sc., GBPUAT, Pantnagar, U.S.Nagar, Uttrakhand E mail: vet_praneeta12@rediffmail.com
3:Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Medicine,C.V.A.Sc., GBPUAT, Pantnagar, U.S.Nagar, Uttrakhand E mail: niddhi.arora@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
A captive animal is the wild animal, which is held under confinement and is dependent on humans for provision of all its needs. Captive animal’s management programs should be adaptive and include attention to individual specimens as well as the herd, troop or flock. Components of the program include animal hygiene, quarantine of new arrivals, periodic fecal examinations and treatments for parasites, booster vaccinations, health screening procedures, nutrition evaluation, necropsy examination of deceased specimens, clinical or related waste material treatment and disposal and a comprehensive pest control program. Animals should be evaluated to ensure their health complies with local, state, and federal health requirements before shipment to other zoos or before release in managed reintroduction programs.
Introduction
A captive animal is the wild animal, which is held under confinement and is dependent on humans for provision of all its needs, whereas Captive wildlife facility is includes a sanctuary, an orphanage or a rescue center that provides shelter and care to animals that have been abused, injured or sick, abandoned or orphaned, illegally held or are otherwise in need. Such a facility may be private, public or community owned. In the course of wildlife conservation and management, some individual animals get orphaned, sick, injured or otherwise incapacitated necessitating interventions to assure them of a life. In many cases during the course of treatment and care, these animals get habituated making it extremely difficult if not impossible to rehabilitate them back to the wild. Consequently, captive animal facilities become the homes for these individuals for purposes of nurturing them. The welfare of each individual animal in these facilities is of primary concern. Management of animals in captivity poses serious challenges that range from animal welfare considerations, space requirements, human skills, veterinary care and visitor satisfaction to financial requirement.
Management of captive wildlife
There are many examples of good practice but some captive wild animals suffer because of poor welfare standards. Some of these are poorly designed, managed and maintained and are unable to provide the barest essentials necessary for the health and psychological well-being of the animals under their care. The most common shortcomings in captive facilities are: undersized and ‘barren’ cages and enclosures, unsuitable floor surfaces that can be injurious to the animals and also difficult to clean to maintain good hygiene, poor quality feed and nutrition, inadequate veterinary/health care and insufficient expertise in appropriate animal care and in some instances ignorance of legal provisions.
To know all these factors and for better management purpose, some of the good practices are:
Animal Hygiene
It is defined as animal health care practice that include each farm of interaction between abiotic and biotic factors of environment and its strategies to prevent diseases, to promote animal health and to ensure that species specific as well as age specific welfare need of such animals are met. Hygiene is of utmost importance to animal health and begin with basic design of animal enclosures. Ease of cleaning should be considered to be important and proper use of disinfectant is must. Clinical waste and diffuse must be regularly removed and disposed in manner by local authority.
Quarantine
The term “quarantine” is a very familiar word in both medical and veterinary sciences. It was actually derived from old Latin Word meaning “Forty”. It literally means compulsory isolation or detention to prevent spread of contagion or infection. The purpose of quarantine is to allow the detection of those animals, which may be incubating a disease with short incubation periods and also to detect a clinical sign of disease with a longer incubation period. Minimum of 30 days and should be under the supervision of a veterinarian. The minimum 30 days quarantine periods may need to extended in the case of diseases which exhibit a long and often unpredictable incubation period (e.g. Rabies, Tuberculosis) and in other special circumstances. Animals entering a collection must undergo quarantine. Quarantine facilities should be designed to allow handling of animals and proper cleaning and sanitizing of enclosures. Shipping crates should be cleaned and disinfected before they leave the quarantine area, and the crates’ contents disposed of appropriately. Quarantine facilities require barriers against ingress of potential vectors and vermin. Separate keepers who are skilled at recognizing signs of stress and disease and who will carefully monitor feed intake and fecal characteristics should care for quarantined animals. Quarantine entry should be strictly controlled. Only essential personnel should be allowed into the quarantine facility. Individuals leaving the quarantine facility should not return to other animal areas without showering and changing clothing. Quarantine facilities should follow the “all-in/all-out” principle, i.e., if additional animals are added to an ongoing quarantine, the quarantine period should be restarted. During quarantine, animals should receive appropriate vaccinations and diagnostic testing (eg, Tuberculosis, Heartworm). They should be examined and treated for ecto- and endoparasites and screened for enteric bacterial pathogens. Before release, animals should receive physical and laboratory examinations, which may include radiographs, serology, hematology and clinical chemistries. Serum should be frozen for future reference and possible epidemiologic studies. All procedures and results should be recorded in each individual animal’s medical record, which is an essential component of the medical program. Each animal should also be identified by some permanent method (e.g. tattoo, tag, band, eartag, transponder) to ensure future identification. When new animals are introduced to enclosures, caution and forethought are necessary to prevent self-induced trauma. Visual barriers, e.g, suspending canvasses from fences or enclosure walls or obscuring glass with soap to provide a visual cue, are standard.
Health and Safety
Health and safety are extremely important aspects of zoo management. It is essential that steps are taken to ensure that health of staff and animals. Good hygiene and preventive measures should be in place to prevent disease and zoonosis.
Parasite control
Zoo animals are vulnerable to a wide variety of ecto and endoparasites and similar drugs are used for treatment. Young animals and those stressed by shipment, disease or injury are the most likely to be adversely affected by parasites. At these times, commensal parasites (especially protozoa) can cause disease. Acute diarrhea can result from massive infections of Coccidia, Trichomonas, Giardia, or Balantidium spp. Amebiasis, which is fairly common in primates and reptiles, can be fatal in a compromised animal. Intestinal parasites may be a major, continuous problem in species kept in naturalistic exhibits or on dirt substrate or pasture, especially in young, newly introduced, or stressed individuals. Most concern are parasites with direct life cycles. Incorporating anthelmintic directly into the feed is helpful. As in domestic species, anthelmintic resistance may develop and necessitate rotating medication. Parasites with indirect life cycles are less frequently a problem if the exhibit area is free of intermediate host.
Vaccination
Vaccination programs for carnivores, nonhuman primates, equids, artiodactylids, and birds should be developed. Vaccination of zoo carnivores is essential because of their susceptibility to various diseases such as feline panleukopenia, feline rhinotracheitis, feline calicivirus, rabies, canine distemper, and canine parvovirus. Previously, only killed virus vaccines were recommended, but recent studies have shown that some modified live vaccines are safe for use in selected species. Further studies are required because some modified live vaccines (especially canine distemper) produce fatal disease in certain species. A canarypox-vectored recombinant canine distemper vaccine has proven safe for use in those species susceptible to modified live virus vaccine-induced disease. Appropriateness of rabies vaccination depends on the circumstances of each collection. If indicated in rabies-endemic areas for the protection of individual animals, only a killed rabies vaccine should be used. The decision to vaccinate zoo animals for less common diseases for which a vaccine is available should be made on an individual basis.
Necropsy
All dead animals should be necropsied. This should include gross and histopathologic evaluation of tissue and viral, bacterial, or fungal cultures when appropriate. Tissues should also be saved for potential future examinations. A thorough pathology examination allows evaluation of medical, management, and nutritional programs. It is also valuable in identifying problems requiring immediate action to safeguard the health of the collection. Variations in anatomy should be recorded because such observations may aid in future diagnostic procedures or therapy in the species.
Clinical or related waste material treatment and disposal
Environmental protection (waste management) regulation, 2000 regulate the clinical or related waste material treatment and disposal. Clinical waste means a waste that has a potential to cause disease e.g. animal waste, discarded sharps, laboratory wastes. All clinical waste must be treated prior to land fill. All clinical waste must be treated by using the various methods like incineration, autoclaving and shredding, chemical disinfection and microwave disinfection. Two methods are viable for treatment and disposal of wastes which are burial and incineration.
Burial method is of choice when infectious agents are involved as it has advantage like quicker and easier to use, cheaper and easy to organize. Open pit method is an old and common method however, its threat to ground water quality. In the closed pit method, by heaping soil on top, weight of soil acts to stop carcass from rising out of pit due to gas, prevent from scavenger, help in absorbing fluid of decomposition. The site of burial should be 200 m away from water source or human dwelling and pit should be 6 feet deep. Lime may be used to avoid foul smelling.
Incineration is the burning of carcass. Carcass should be carried to an elevated area and put on a pile of wood and burn it or incinerators are used now days. Concerned people should take precautions while handling carcass. Wear masks, head covers, glove, gum boots throughout the procedures.
Pest Management
Pests like insects, rodents, birds and certain mammals are common in zoo because of availability of food and shelter. Pests are vectors of reservoirs of disease that can adversely affect zoo animals. Integrated pest control should be adopted in zoos to prevent the pest in the zoos. The aim of the integrated pest management is to suppress pest population below economic injury level. The pest management will focus on the monitoring of zoos, mechanical control and biological control of pests and rodents. Vermin control refers to vertebrate pests or unwanted birds and mammals found in zoos or wild life parks. Vermin contribute to economic loss. These transmit diseases. Common zoo pests may serve as important disease vectors. For example, cockroaches are intermediate hosts for GI parasites of primates and birds; rodents can harbour and spread Listeria, Salmonella, and Leptospiraspp and Francisellatularensis. Wild and feral carnivores such as foxes, raccoons, and domestic dogs and cats can devastate animal collections through predatory attacks and may be important vectors for viral diseases such as rabies, parvovirus, and canine distemper. Raccoons may also transmit Baylisascaris parasites, which can cause larval migration resulting in fatal neuropathy in some species. Pigeons, geese, ducks, and starlings are potential reservoirs for avian diseases; they consume or contaminate animal food and deposit droppings everywhere. Arthropod vectors can transmit pathogens such as West Nile virus. Dental health Carnivores and primates often accumulate tartar on their teeth just like humans do. This requires that the animal’s teeth be cleaned on a regular basis (the tartar removed and the teeth cleaned and polished). Occasionally, more serious problems require more complex procedures such as root canals.
Neonate examination
Newborn animals at Zoo should be examined to check their health, to give those vitamins, their first vaccinations and some kind of individual identification such as an ear tag or microchip. The signs of hungry status are frequent making of sound, when hungry; the calf often attempts to suckle the tip of the finger kept near the mouth. When stomach is full, the neonates tend to go for sleep with snoring sounds that are well audible. Mode of feeding: Large sized enema or a big-sized bottle like container with tube may be used and approximately ten per cent of the body weight may be taken as a rough estimate of feed requirement. Regular nipples attached to bottles of adequate volume or buckets have worked well for the successful feeding of orphaned elephant calf.
Nutritional Management
Standards speak to the basic need to nourish the animals in a manner that ensures their continued physical health. Access at all times to clean water, for example, is essential. Equally important, however, and widely acknowledged, is the requirement that a diet be tailored to the species and include a broad variety in the types of food provided to enhance the captive animal’s quality of life.
A zoo veterinarian has to evaluate and approve husbandry and assist in developing nutrition programs for each species within a collection. Each animal must receive a timely supply of wholesome and unadulterated food insufficient quantity, according to the requirement of each individual. Potable water must be available around the clock in each enclosure.
Personnel health and safety program
A well-defined personnel health and safety policy is also an important part of a preventive health program. Several infectious diseases of humans, such as tuberculosis, measles, and amoebic dysentery, can be acquired by captive wild mammals, especially primates. Pre-employment screening and proper training, plus periodic tuberculin testing and Study of preventive health measures for wildlife in captivity: a review of management approaches health monitoring during employment, will minimize the potential for disease transmission from caretakers to animals.
Enclosures and exhibit managements
Review of exhibit design and animal management should be conducted periodically. Animals conflicts should be avoided. Tree near enclosures must be regularly inspected to avoid animal being harmed by falling branches, trauma, toxicity. Special building for nocturnal animals with dim light during day. Special enclosures of birds, insects, reptiles, fishes and other aquatic life form. Enclosures must be designed to meet the full biological requirements of the animals they contain. In particular, the following are required: space for free movement and exercise; no undue domination by individuals within herds or groups; no unnatural provocation for public benefit; no stress caused by visibility of others in adjoining enclosures; to endeavor to simulate conditions of natural habitat; trees for shade and shelters to be constructed to merge with the environment. They must have resting and exercising facilities tailored to meet the biological needs of the species. They must also have proper ventilation and lighting. Animals must be kept in viable social groups.
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