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Experience, age, sex and season and behavioural
responses of European badgers to handling and sedation
Journal
Animal
Welfare ,
Volume 24 ,
Issue 4 , November 2015 , pp. 373 - 385 DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7120/09627286.24.4.373
Authors
Q Sun ,
C Stevens ,
C Newman ,
CD Buesching and
DW Macdonald
Abstract
The restraint and sedation of wild animals has welfare
implications, thus animal handling procedures should be well-informed and
optimised to adhere to welfare standards. Furthermore, it is important
that handling procedures should not cause future trap avoidance. This is
of particular pertinence to European badgers (Meles meles), subject to
extensive cage-trapping, relating to bovine tuberculosis epidemiology. We
examined 4,288 capture/recapture events for 856 individual badgers,
occurring between May 1999-September 2011, recording initial observed
behaviour and reaction provoked by injection, on a scale ranging from
still (0) to distressed/aggressive (3). Eighty-seven percent of adults and
76% of cubs were still (0) when approached initially and 75% of adults and
62% of cubs remained still when injected. Cubs exhibited significantly
higher behavioural responses than adults, while female adults scored
higher provoked scores than males. Importantly, the initial behaviour of
an individual dictated its provoked response. Previous experience of
capture was associated with lower subsequent behavioural response scores,
while naïve badgers were most prone to score highly. Individuals first
caught as cubs scored lower initial responses than those first caught as
adults. Lower initial responses occurred in spring and summer and higher
responses were associated with lice infestation. Behavioural criteria have
potential to inform and optimise welfare in badger capture operations.
This contributes to techniques allowing simple, non-invasive assessment of
how wild animals in general respond to temporary restraint, where the
psychological perception acts as the precursor to physiological stress.
Keywords
animal welfare *
badger *
behavioural response *
injection *
restraint *
sedation
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