Current methods of trapping are based on chasing the animals into a corralled area – often using helicopters.
Is there another way?
A less stressful, less expensive, and safer alternative? Sue McDonnell and Catherine Torcivia, of the University of
Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine New Bolton Center, believe that there is.
They investigated whether it would be possible to get free-roaming
horses to follow a drone into a corral. They explain “This concept is based on
the natural instinctive behavioural tendency of horses to become alert to
intruders or novel objects and to respond as a herd according to the level of
sympathetic arousal evoked.”
They used a consumer-grade quadcopter drone to lead the university’s
herd of 123 semi-feral ponies into corrals. Reporting their work in the journal
Animals, they write: “The technique was successful on the first attempt as well
as for seven of nine additional attempts over a period of 4 weeks, repeatedly
to the same as well as to different destinations. The pace of following was
primarily a fast walk, with occasional slow trot. Family integrity was
maintained.”
The authors add that “In all cases, one or more stallions
were the first to alert to the approach of the drone as well as to initiate
following of the drone’s retreat. Those stallions vocalized in a characteristic
loud distant call back to the remainder of the herd, which then reflexively
coalesced and followed en masse.”
They found that to catch the horses’ interest, the drone was
most effective when flying at 2-6 metres above the ground and within 10m ahead
of the leading animals.
The authors conclude that their work shows preliminary proof
of the concept of repeated capture of horses by leading with aircraft rather
than chasing. They now plan to repeat the project on a herd of feral horses in
a much larger enclosure than that in which these ponies were living.
“If successfully demonstrated in more extensive rangeland
conditions, this method may eventually provide a lower-stress, more repeatable
option of capturing feral horses, with implications for improved animal and
human safety and welfare.”
For more details, see:
Preliminary
Proof of the Concept of Wild (Feral) Horses Following Light Aircraft into a
Trap.
McDonnell S,
Torcivia C.
Animals
(Basel). (2020) Jan 2;10(1). pii: E80.
No comments:
Post a Comment