Translocation of introduced reindeer from Hagemeister Island , Alaska

In 1992 and 1993, 411 live reindeer were shipped by air from Hagemeister Island to the Anchorage area, Alaska. Reindeer were either rounded up by helicopter and then corralled or captured by net-gun fired from a helicopter. Outcome of both capture events showed that helicopter corralling of reindeer was more successful than catching them with a net-gun and that post-rut rounding up was more successful than rounding up during the rut itself.


Introduction
The objectives of most wildlife translocations in the State of Alaska have been to increase recreational hunting, provide additional food supply, re-establish species, and/or preserve endangered species (Franzmann, 1988).In recent years, another objective has surfaced, namely the removal of introduced species for ecological reasons.With this shift in policy of wildlife agencies to a new general mandate of preservation of indigenous flora and fauna, it seems likely that these types of translocations will increase in the future.The success of these translocations will require more planning and preparation than "typical" re-locations of wildlife species as entire populations are involved.As a result, relocation of entire animal populations may not be feasible and need to be combined with slaughter and meat salvage operations.
Reindeer {Rangifer t. tarandus x R. t. caribou) were introduced to Hagemeister Island, Alaska in the Rangifer, 18 (1), 1998 1960s (Stimmelmayr, 1994).The herd was managed by Native reindeer herders from the village of Togiak.In 1992, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (US-F&WS) determined that continued grazing of reindeer on Hagemeister Island, part of the Alaska Maritime National Refuge, was incompatible with the purpose of the refuge.It was decided that the removal of the entire herd of approximately 1200 animals was necessary.Translocation of live reindeer combined with meat salvage operation was scheduled to take place in 1992 and 1993.This paper presents results comparing two alternative methods of capturing reindeer.Recommendations are provided for capture and shipment of reindeer.

Study area
Hagemeister Island is located in Bristol Bay of the Bering Sea (Fig. l).The island is approximately 37  (Swanson & LaPlant, 1987).The climate is sub-arctic maritime with highly variable strong winds and frequent precipitation in the form of snow, rain, and freezing rain during the winter months.

Animal handling facility
A handling facility was set up on the eastern shoreline of the island.A temporary corral was built using steel fence posts (2.5 m height), wire cables (galvanized steel 0.5 cm diameter), and waxcloth fabric (typar).The corral system consisted of one wing fence (100 m length), a main corral (40 m diameter), two sorting pens (5 m diameter and 2.5 m diameter) with hinged gates, a V-shaped chute system, and one holding pen (12 m diameter).20

Capture
In November, 1992 reindeer were rounded-up using either one or two helicopters (Robinson 22, Bell 206 Long Jet Ranger, and/or Bell 206 Jet Ranger).During September 1993, a Piper Super Cub PA 18/150 was used in conjunction with the helicopters to facilitate round up.Reindeer were driven in large groups (100-300 animals) along the beach to the corral.Individual reindeer were captured with a Hughes 500 helicopter with a pilot-controlled skid-mounted double-barreled net-gun.A custom designed net with a net area of 7 m 2 and a 12 cm mesh size was used.Animals were blindfolded, hobbled (nylon straps with quick release buckles), before being flown to the corral in cargo nets (one animal per cargo net).Up to three animals were carried under the helicopter at a time.At the corral they were loaded onto a Honda 500 All Terrain Vehicle equipped with a trailer and transported to the holding pen.There animals were tested and prepared RangiSer, 18 (1), 1998 for shipment while they were hobbled (this included removal of antlers, identifying animals with an ear tag, sexing, aging, and drawing a blood sample).

Handling and animal health
Groups of 10-20 animals were separated in the main corral and mustered into the first and then the second holding pen.Animals were restrained physically by one or two persons or with a manually-controlled reindeer crush (Finstad and Renecker, 1993) fitted with electronic weight bars (Tru-test Scales, P.O.Box 700407, San Antonio, TX, USA 78270).All reindeer were ear-tagged, sexed, and aged.Animals 5 years old were aged to the nearest year on the basis of eruption of incisor teeth and tooth wear patterns (Skjenneberg & Slagsvold, 1968).Animals > 5 years were classified as 5+ years old.Blood samples collected from the jugular vein of each animal were centrifuged, serum was removed, and tested the same day for brucellosis using a rapid card test (Buffered Brucella antigen (BBA) Veterinary Services APHIS, US.Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20005).Antlers were removed with a hand saw leaving 2-3.5 cm of hard antler above the coronet.In 1993, reindeer were treated with Ivermectin (Ivomec®, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ USA 07065), probiotic 8 (Rumenoc, Star Labs, P.O.Box 81, St. Joseph, MO, USA 64506; Probios®, Hi-bred Intern., Inc., P.O.Box 258, Johnston, IO 50131), and vaccinated with a killed bacterin-toxoid containing Clostridium chauvei-septicum-novyi-perfringens Type C and D. The animals were kept in the holding enclosure for up to 48 hrs.before being either shipped or released.Snow or fresh water was provided daily, in the morning and evening.Complete gross necropsies were performed on animals that died during capture following standard necropsy procedures (Jones & Hunt, 1972).

Loading and transport
Groups of two to five reindeer were run through a funnel-shaped race which led to a loading ramp into a DC-3 fixed-winged aircraft.Inside the aircraft the animals were separated according to body size and a maximum of 5 animals were placed in a wooden crate (1.5 x 2.0 x 2.5 m; carpeted crate floors).The aircraft catgo load was 35 animals per flight.Animals were flown to Goose Bay (11 miles N of Anchorage) and Palmer (50 miles N of Anchorage) in 1992 and 1993, respectively.The duration of the flights was approximately 3 hrs.Animals destined for Point Mackenzie (3.4 miles NW of Anchorage) were reloaded onto trucks and transported for an additional 1.5-2 hrs to their new location.

Helicopter corralling
Post-rut In November 1992, reindeer on Hagemeister Island were segregated into either large aggregations of cows with their calves or smaller mixed bands of young and adult bulls.Three round ups with a helicopter captured 276 reindeer.All bulls judged to be older than 3.5 years were either killed for meat or released.Handling time per animal was 5-6 minutes.All reindeer tested sero-negative for brucellosis.Altogether 122 live reindeer (92 calves, 25 cows, and 5 bulls) were shipped within 48 hours to Goose Bay.No animals died during capture, handling or within one month after transport.

Rut
In August-September 1993, reindeer on Hagemeister Island were distributed in 25-30 mating groups of approximately 10-70 animals each which were widely dispersed across the island Five helicopter round ups were required to capture 160 reindeer owing to their wide distribution, bad weather, and repeated scattering of already rounded up reindeer in smaller groups.Handling time per animal was 5-6 min.All bulls judged to be older than 3.5 years were killed.Animals displayed signs of distress and aggression including freezing, pawing, charging, and fighting.All reindeer tested seronegative for brucellosis.A 150 live reindeer (60 calves, 77 cows, 13 bulls) were shipped.Ten animals escaped from the corral prior to shipment.One animal died after handling.Nine bulls died within one month of transport (Table 1).Gross necropsy of these animals showed extensive subcutaneous, muscular, and internal hemorrhaging and depletion of internal and external body fat stores (P.Meyers, pers.comm.).

Helicopter net-gunning
Rut A total of 156 reindeer were captured with a helicopter net-gun in September-October, 1993.All reindeer tested sero-negative for brucellosis.Animals were net-gunned individually or in cowcalf pairs.The time required to pursue, capture, and restrain each animal ranged between 15-50 min.During the first 30 min after their release into the holding pen, net-gunned animals appeared to be disorientated and confused.A 139 live reindeer (50 calves, 8 cows, 9 bulls) were shipped.Seventeen animals died during capture (Table 1).Major cause of accidental death rate duting net-gunning were neck fractures.Thirteen animals (8 bulls and 5 females) died within the first month after shipment.Gross necropsy findings in these animals were identical to the ones described for the earlier shipments in August-September, 1993.

Discussion
Comparison of the 1992 and 1993 translocations show marked differences in success of capture, handling and mortality rate with respect to season and capture technique.Our results clearly indicate that helicopter corralling of reindeer was more successful than catching them with a net-gun and that post-rut rounding up was more successful than rounding up during the rut itself.Helicopters, 4wheel drive terrain vehicles or snow mobiles are commonly used by Native Reindeer herders on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, for the twice a year round-up of their reindeer herds (Dieterich, 1991;Chetkiewicz, 1993;Chetkiewicz & Renecker, 1994).Caribou have been captured with a net gun in several locations in Alaska (Valkenburg et ah, 1983;Taylor & Hotchkiss, 1989).Accidental mortality rate for caribou captured by net-gun were 12% (Valkenburg et al., 1983;Barrett et ai, 1982).A similar rate of mortality (11%) was observed in this study.These mortality rates are much higher in Table 2. Guidelines for caprure and shipment of reindeer.

Category
Comments and variables to consider

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-animals are sexually segregated; -bulls manageable, but in poor body condition; -females pregnant, but in good body condition; majority of calves are weaned, -not recommended; -high risk of abortion due to capture stress; -poor to fair body condition during early spring, -animals in large mixed groups but manageable; -adults are in good body condition, -not recommended; -animals in small mating groups; difficult to handle; -mature bulls are extremely poor candidates for successful shipment; -breeding success will be reduced.

Capture
Helicopter round up and corralling

Shipment
Post transport -time and cost efficient for large numbers; -low risk of mortality, if slow speed of travel is adopted (i.e.calves have difficulty keeping up with adults if the herd is moved too fast); -efficient for individual animal capture; can be labor and cost intensive; -high mortality rate (11-12%) in reindeer and caribou.
-corral should provide food, water, adequate space and security.
-size of corral depends on number of animals to be captured (6 m 2 per animal); -corral designs should use the animal's behavior to your advantage (Thompson et al., 1992;Thomphson & Dieterich, 1990); -pens should be oval and races curved; -fences should be at least 2 m high and animals should have no view of surrounding activities (Renecker, 1992); -type (temporary/permanent) depends on climate and animal behavior; -temporary corrals are cost efficient (1-2 days for set-up), however, require continuous maintenance; alternatives are prefabricated handling facilities used on game farms.
-good knowledge in animal behavior and recognize stress and aggression.
-work small groups instead of a single animal; -keep visual or vocal stimuli to a minimum and have a small crew; -minimize restraint time and use a crush to restraint animals.
-know the requirements for disease testing before the operation begins; -assign a health treatment plan to include antiparasite treatment, vaccination against clostridial diseases, and long-acting antibiotics; -offer water ad libitum during entire holding period; -pelleted feed for Rangifer is available (Staaland & Sletten, 1991), however, ruminal adaption to new diet takes at least 7 days (Trudell et al., 1980); -thus, do not feed if animals are shipped within 48 hours after capture or feed natural forage such as lichens and willows; -heat stress is a serious problem in reindeer and should be minimized, -not recommended for shipment in general; most reindeer do not require sedation for shipment; -remove antlers prior to shipment; -leave 2-3.5 cm of hard antler above the coronet; -load in small groups; sort according to size and temperament; don't mix unfamiliar groups; -use single or communal, well-ventilated crates; a communal crate can hold 4-5 head; -secure crates to avoid load shifting; -provide bedding to absorb urine (most air cargo companies prefer wood shavings or sawdust); -ship at night to avoid high daytime ambient temperatures; -well ventilate the cargo hold of the aircraft; -water animals prior to shipment and during transport.
-closely monitor animal health and behaviour (Stimmelmayr & Renecker, 1994); -convert animals slowly to the new diet and monitor feed intake; watch for excessive consumption of grain, (overload in reindeer has been observed and can be fatal); -if mortality occurs perform gross necropsy and collect tissues for histopathology.
comparison to other capture studies with North American and New Zealand ungulates, where mortalirty rates are below 1% (J.Innes, pers.comm.).
The difference in accidental mortality rate may be attributed to different levels of experience of capture crews and species differences.
The post-transport mortality rate of 7.6%, in 1993 is within the range reported for reindeer in shipment (Dieterich, 1989).Failure to adapt to captivity, to formulated rations, or poor body condition prior to shipment and severe stress during shipment resulting in capture myopathy appear to be the main causes of post transport deaths (Luick, 1977;Rehbinder, 1990;Dieterich, 1993).Gross necropsy findings in our study are suggestive that capture myopathy was the major cause of post transport death.The differential mortality of adult males (77%) versus adult females (5.8%) observed in this study further suggests that bulls during rut are more vulnerable to capture stress than females.Similar observations have been made in red deer (Cervus elaphus) in New Zealand (J.Suttie, pers.comm.) and the code of conduct for deer transports in New Zealand prohibits shipment of male deer (including yearlings) one month before or after the rut.Our results suggest that similar regulations for reindeer transports would be appropriate.
The Hagemeister Island translocations showed that large scale re-location of reindeer is feasible.However, the data also shows the importance of selecting the appropriate timing of shipment, method of capture and handling, handling facilities, and treatment of animals pre and post shipment.We recommend the following guidelines (Table 2) to help improve the success of reindeer capture and shipment.

Table 1 . Distribution of capture-related morrality in reindeer selected for Translocation during the 1993 operations on
Hagemeisrer Island, Alaska.