Center for the interaction of Animals and Society School of Veterinary Medicine,   University of Pennsylvania Dr. James A. Serpell, Director
	Seventh Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Relations with Animals and the Natural W orld NEW DIRECTIONS IN ANIMALS TRAINING, HANDLING & RESTRAINT

Habituating Antelope and Bison To Cooperate with Veterinary Procedures

(Abstract)

Temple Grandin, Ph.D.

Department of Animal Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523

Undomesticated wild animals with an excitable temperament are often injured when they are handled for veterinary procedures such as blood sampling or injections. Both bison and antelope are likely to become agitated when they are restrained and horns are often broken. Antelope will often panic when restraint is suddenly forced upon them. Our research group has successfully trained both Bongo and Nyala antelope to voluntarily enter a box for food rewards. While the animal was standing in the box, blood samples were taken from the rear leg in quiet non-sedated antelope. Three Bongo antelope which had been conditioned to stand in the box had low cortisol levels which averaged from 4.4 + 3.4 ng/ml in a male and 8.5 + 4.7 ng/ml in two females. The unsedated animals were held in the box for 10 to 20 minutes to allow cortisol levels to rise. These values were much lower than cortisol levels reported in the literature for restrained unsedated wild ruminants and domestic cattle that are not habituated to restraint. Since antelope are flighty animals, each new step in the conditioning process had to be introduced in very small steps to prevent panic. In another experiment, bison calves were trained to walk through the handling chutes for feed rewards. In both species, great care must be taken to avoid panic. This is especially important in the early stages of training.

Temple Grandin is a designer of livestock handling facilities and an Assistant Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. Facilities she has designed are located in the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. In North America, almost half of the cattle are handled in a center track restrainer system that she designed for meat plants. She obtained her B.A. at Franklin Pierce College and her M.S. in Animal Science at Arizona State University. Dr. Grandin received her Ph.D in Animal Science from the University of Illinois in 1989. Today she teaches courses on livestock behavior and facility design at Colorado State University and consults with the livestock industry on facility design, livestock handling, and animal welfare. She has appeared on television shows such as 20/20, 48 Hours, CNN Larry King Live, and has been featured in People Magazine, the New York Times, Forbes, and U.S. News and World Report. She has also authored over 300 articles in both scientific journals and livestock periodicals on animal handling, welfare, and facility design.

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