Capture, Anesthesia, and Disturbance of Free-Ranging Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) during Hibernation
We conducted thirteen immobilizations of previously collared hibernating two- to four-year-old brown bears (Ursus arctos) weighing 21–66 kg in central Sweden in winter 2010 and 2011 for comparative physiology research. Here we report, for the first time, an effective protocol for the capture and ane...
Published in: | PLoS ONE |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public library of science
2012
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11250/134474 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040520 |
id |
fthsinnlandet:oai:brage.inn.no:11250/134474 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
fthsinnlandet:oai:brage.inn.no:11250/134474 2024-03-03T08:49:17+00:00 Capture, Anesthesia, and Disturbance of Free-Ranging Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) during Hibernation Evans, Alina L. Sahlén, Veronica Støen, Ole-Gunnar Fahlman, Åsa Brunberg, Sven Madslien, Knut Fröbert, Ole Swenson, Jon E. Arnemo, Jon Martin 2012 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/11250/134474 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040520 eng eng Public library of science Evans, A., Sahlén, V., Støen, O.-G., Fahlman, Å., Brunberg, S., Madslien, K., . . . Arnemo, J. M. (2012). Capture, Anesthesia, and Disturbance of Free-Ranging Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) during Hibernation. PLoS ONE, 7(7). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040520 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/134474 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040520 7 PLOS one bjørner ursus arctos dvale VDP::Agriculture and fishery disciplines: 900::Clinical veterinary science disciplines: 950 VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480 Journal article Peer reviewed 2012 fthsinnlandet https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040520 2024-02-02T12:42:15Z We conducted thirteen immobilizations of previously collared hibernating two- to four-year-old brown bears (Ursus arctos) weighing 21–66 kg in central Sweden in winter 2010 and 2011 for comparative physiology research. Here we report, for the first time, an effective protocol for the capture and anesthesia of free-ranging brown bears during hibernation and an assessment of the disturbance the captures caused. Bears were darted in anthill, soil, or uprooted tree dens on eleven occasions, but two bears in rock dens fled and were darted outside the den. We used medetomidine at 0.02–0.06 mg/kg and zolazepam-tiletamine at 0.9–2.8 mg/kg for anesthesia. In addition, ketamine at 1.5 mg/kg was hand-injected intramuscularly in four bears and in six it was included in the dart at 1.1–3.0 mg/kg. Once anesthetized, bears were removed from the dens. In nine bears, arterial blood samples were analyzed immediately with a portable blood gas analyzer. We corrected hypoxemia in seven bears (PaO2 57–74 mmHg) with supplemental oxygen. We placed the bears back into the dens and antagonized the effect of medetomidine with atipamezole. Capturing bears in the den significantly increased the risk of den abandonment. One of twelve collared bears that were captured remained at the original den until spring, and eleven, left their dens (mean 6 standard deviation) 3.263.6 (range 0.5–10.5) days after capture. They used 1.960.9 intermediate resting sites, during 6.267.8 days before entering a new permanent den. The eleven new permanent dens were located 7306589 m from the original dens. We documented that it was feasible and safe to capture hibernating brown bears, although they behaved differently than black bears. When doing so, researchers should use 25% of the doses used for helicopter darting during the active period and should consider increased energetic costs associated with den abandonment. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus arctos Høgskolen i Innlandet: Brage INN PLoS ONE 7 7 e40520 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Høgskolen i Innlandet: Brage INN |
op_collection_id |
fthsinnlandet |
language |
English |
topic |
bjørner ursus arctos dvale VDP::Agriculture and fishery disciplines: 900::Clinical veterinary science disciplines: 950 VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480 |
spellingShingle |
bjørner ursus arctos dvale VDP::Agriculture and fishery disciplines: 900::Clinical veterinary science disciplines: 950 VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480 Evans, Alina L. Sahlén, Veronica Støen, Ole-Gunnar Fahlman, Åsa Brunberg, Sven Madslien, Knut Fröbert, Ole Swenson, Jon E. Arnemo, Jon Martin Capture, Anesthesia, and Disturbance of Free-Ranging Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) during Hibernation |
topic_facet |
bjørner ursus arctos dvale VDP::Agriculture and fishery disciplines: 900::Clinical veterinary science disciplines: 950 VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480 |
description |
We conducted thirteen immobilizations of previously collared hibernating two- to four-year-old brown bears (Ursus arctos) weighing 21–66 kg in central Sweden in winter 2010 and 2011 for comparative physiology research. Here we report, for the first time, an effective protocol for the capture and anesthesia of free-ranging brown bears during hibernation and an assessment of the disturbance the captures caused. Bears were darted in anthill, soil, or uprooted tree dens on eleven occasions, but two bears in rock dens fled and were darted outside the den. We used medetomidine at 0.02–0.06 mg/kg and zolazepam-tiletamine at 0.9–2.8 mg/kg for anesthesia. In addition, ketamine at 1.5 mg/kg was hand-injected intramuscularly in four bears and in six it was included in the dart at 1.1–3.0 mg/kg. Once anesthetized, bears were removed from the dens. In nine bears, arterial blood samples were analyzed immediately with a portable blood gas analyzer. We corrected hypoxemia in seven bears (PaO2 57–74 mmHg) with supplemental oxygen. We placed the bears back into the dens and antagonized the effect of medetomidine with atipamezole. Capturing bears in the den significantly increased the risk of den abandonment. One of twelve collared bears that were captured remained at the original den until spring, and eleven, left their dens (mean 6 standard deviation) 3.263.6 (range 0.5–10.5) days after capture. They used 1.960.9 intermediate resting sites, during 6.267.8 days before entering a new permanent den. The eleven new permanent dens were located 7306589 m from the original dens. We documented that it was feasible and safe to capture hibernating brown bears, although they behaved differently than black bears. When doing so, researchers should use 25% of the doses used for helicopter darting during the active period and should consider increased energetic costs associated with den abandonment. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Evans, Alina L. Sahlén, Veronica Støen, Ole-Gunnar Fahlman, Åsa Brunberg, Sven Madslien, Knut Fröbert, Ole Swenson, Jon E. Arnemo, Jon Martin |
author_facet |
Evans, Alina L. Sahlén, Veronica Støen, Ole-Gunnar Fahlman, Åsa Brunberg, Sven Madslien, Knut Fröbert, Ole Swenson, Jon E. Arnemo, Jon Martin |
author_sort |
Evans, Alina L. |
title |
Capture, Anesthesia, and Disturbance of Free-Ranging Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) during Hibernation |
title_short |
Capture, Anesthesia, and Disturbance of Free-Ranging Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) during Hibernation |
title_full |
Capture, Anesthesia, and Disturbance of Free-Ranging Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) during Hibernation |
title_fullStr |
Capture, Anesthesia, and Disturbance of Free-Ranging Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) during Hibernation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Capture, Anesthesia, and Disturbance of Free-Ranging Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) during Hibernation |
title_sort |
capture, anesthesia, and disturbance of free-ranging brown bears (ursus arctos) during hibernation |
publisher |
Public library of science |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/134474 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040520 |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_source |
7 PLOS one |
op_relation |
Evans, A., Sahlén, V., Støen, O.-G., Fahlman, Å., Brunberg, S., Madslien, K., . . . Arnemo, J. M. (2012). Capture, Anesthesia, and Disturbance of Free-Ranging Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) during Hibernation. PLoS ONE, 7(7). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040520 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/134474 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040520 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040520 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
e40520 |
_version_ |
1792506480855875584 |