Guns, Darts and Dr. Who?

Rhino, Zebra, and the land cruiser running out of diesel.














Today we had our first lecture on game capture with Dr. Tertius Zagt. He has been working as a game capture vet for the past 30 years. Game capture is one of the main sources of income in Africa. There are game farms everywhere and on these farms are a variety of animals for various reasons such as breeding and selling. There can be 1 species of animal to as many as one can fit on the land. When it comes time to move, buy or sell animals, they have to be sedated and then transported as they are wild. This is quite the process that involves a vet, dart guns, darts, drugs, land rovers, man power and sometimes helicopters. There are different types of capture such as the darting method, or the other popular one is to set up a "boma" (temporary housing) and lure the animals into this. We stuck with the darting.

Tertius started out by teaching us about all of the drugs they use and how they affect the body. We especially learned about Etropine (M99) which is a powerful opiod, Thiofentanyl and Stressnil. For all of you TRU grads, this is Azaperone, the pig drug. He then taught us about all of the different equipment used in capture and where on the animal we were supposed to dart. The darts have room for up to 3.0mls of drug and have a barbed tip so they stay in the animal until the removal. After this lecture, we then went to the game farm that Tertius works on to practice handling and getting familiar with the dart gun. We were all pleasantly surprised as the dart gun was easier to use than the 22 at Imbumbala as it had a red sight to line up with the target. We practiced loading the darts, cocking the gun and filling the magazine. Then we shot at a target while standing and then sitting. We also met Pierre, the manager of the game farm and assistant to Tertius. Pierre, also known as "hot pants" (due to his short shorts) soon became the "man of the trip" to most as he was the best looking South Africa man we had seen yet. Once we all had our introductions he took us out in the bucky for a tour of the farm. This game drive was up close and personal as we were in the back of the bucky overlooking the land and all of the animals! We saw so many different species including the rare golden wildebeest. After the game drive we went back to the house and had a traditional SA Braai. This is their version of a BBQ, but different. They burn wood and then wait until all of the coals are just right and then cook the meat over the burning coals. As you can imagine, the food took a while but was really good!