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Immobilising free-ranging Alpine chamois with xylazine, reversed with atipamezole

¹ Research Centre on Wildlife Management, Università degli Studi di Torino, Frazione Rore, 17-Sampeyre (CN), Italy
² Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Dipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Epidemiologia ed Ecologia, Università degli Studi di Torino, V. L. da Vinci, 44-Grugliasco (TO), Italy
³ Martime Alps Natural Park, Piazza Regina Elena, 30-Valdieri (CN), Italy

Correspondence: Correspondence to Dr Menzano

Between 1996 and 2005, 215 free-ranging Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) were immobilised with xylazine hydrochloride. The 110 male and 105 female animals received a mean (sd) dose of 2·5 (0·6) mg/kg with a range from 1·4 to 4·8 mg/kg. The immobilisation was reversed in 201 of the animals with an intramuscular injection of 0·3 (0·1) mg/kg atipamezole (range 0·03 to 0·76 mg/kg), corresponding to a mean ratio of atipamezole:xylazine of 1:9·4 (4·3). All the chamois were immobilised, but shorter induction and recovery times, and deeper sedation with no reactions to handling were obtained in more than 80 per cent of the animals with doses of 2·6 to 3·6 mg/kg of xylazine, reversed with 0·26 to 0·36 mg/kg atipamezole (a ratio of 1:10), injected within 90 minutes.