South Africa

Explorers and settlers in southern Africa were among the first westerners to study and describe the incredible wildlife of Africa.  The interest and focus on wildlife continues to this day with wildlife managers and universities in the region committed to learning in the pursuit of new techniques to effectively manage and conserve wildlife.  White Oak Conservation Center has strong links to conservation programs for rhinoceros, antelope, giraffes, and cheetahs in southern Africa, and through partnerships with field veterinarians have developed specific research projects which benefit species conservation.

Hippopotamus Anesthesia Project

The Nile or common hippopotamus is a megavertebrate that has historically been difficult to chemically restrain in both captivity and in free-ranging settings.  In free-living populations with shrinking habitats, hippos tend to become over-populated, which necessitates relocation; however, sedation and chemical restraint of hippos has historically resulted in relatively high mortality.  Because of their aquatic nature, hippos tend to seek refuge in water when threatened, so drowning is a major concern during anesthesia.  With current anesthetic protocols for this species, utilizing a potent opiate (most commonly etorphine) and various tranquilizers, hippos tend to sink and never resurface to breathe if they make it to water. 

These same drug combinations also produce severe respiratory depression in hippos and stimulate a diving reflex with apnea similar to that seen in some marine mammals during anesthesia.  White Oak Conservation Center in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s Conservation & Research Center and staff from Catchco Africa, in South Africa, will begin a study in South Africa to find one or more drug combinations that are safe and effective for chemical restraint of Nile hippopotamus.

White Rhino Anesthesia Project

The white rhinoceros is one of the “Flagship Species” in African conservation efforts and is popular in both game parks and zoological collections.  To properly manage this endangered species in either setting, safe and reliable anesthesia is required for medical care and conservation based programs such as relocation, or micro-chipping horns as part of an overall anti-poaching effort.  Free-living white rhinoceros require anesthesia for medical care and conservation projects. Current field anesthesia protocols in this high profile endangered species results in major drug-induced physiological changes and muscle rigidity, which impairs respiration. 

White Oak Conservation Center, in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s Conservation & Research Center, South African National Parks, several private South African game reserves, and several South African wildlife veterinarians, together with funding from the Morris Animal Foundation, are developing safer anesthesia protocols that maintain acceptable physiological values plus improve muscle relaxation in the white rhinoceros.  Current work focuses on a combination of Etorphine-Butorphanol-Midazolam that has shown excellent results in the field and has markedly improved physiologic variables in immobilized white rhinoceros both in the wild and in captivity.

African Wild Dog Project

White Oak Conservation Center, in collaboration with Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the Smithsonian’s Conservation & Research Center, Catchco Africa, and the Kapama Game Reserve in South Africa, recently completed a study evaluating the use of Edetomidine- Butorphanol-Midazolam in 39 African wild dogs.  Current field anesthetic techniques for wild dogs either produce adverse physiologic effects in the dogs or have prolonged recovery times that make it difficult to get dogs safely back with their packs.  This combination produced fast and smooth inductions, good, stable physiologic effects, and, most importantly, was completely reversible allowing dogs to be placed back with the pack quickly.