Training animals to cooperate with veterinary procedures provides many advantages. It provides the advantages of improved animal welfare, reduced stress and it reduces the chance of injury to the animals. It is also much safer for employees than forced manual restraint and helps prevent damage which spoils the appearance of the animals, such as broken horns. In this paper we will describe training and conditioning procedures which have been successfully used at the Denver Zoological Gardens to condition Tragelaphus angasi (nyala) and Tragelaphus eurycerus (bongo) to voluntarily enter a crate for blood sampling, injections and other veterinary procedures. These procedures are now routinely performed on unsedated cooperative adult animals. Shipping is also much easier and less stressful because cooperative, unsedated animals will walk into a crate for shipping.

Methods

Treats

Training Procedures

Habituation and Conditioning of Nyala and Bongo

Results & Disscussion

Reference List