Use tranquilizers to reduce stress during translocation

Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
Number of studies: 1
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How is the evidence assessed?

Effectiveness

10%
Certainty

15%
Harms

10%

Calculating overall effectiveness category

Background information and definitions

Translocation of mammals can cause elevated stress levels. This may affect post-release survival (e.g. Beringer et al. 2002). Tranquilizers may be administered during the translocation process in order to reduce stress to captured mammals.

Beringer J., Hansen L.P., Demand J.A., Sartwell J., Wallendorf M. & Mange R. (2002) Efficacy of translocation to control urban deer in Missouri: costs, efficiency, and outcome. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 30, 767–774.

Study locations

Key messages

One study evaluated the effects on mammals of using tranquilizers to reduce stress during translocation. This study was in France.

COMMUNITY RESPONSE (0 STUDIES)

POPULATION RESPONSE (1 STUDY)

Survival (1 study): A controlled study in France found that using tranquilizers to reduce stress during translocation did not increase post-release survival of European rabbits.

BEHAVIOUR (0 STUDIES)

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

A controlled study in 1997 on a farmland site in northern France (Letty et al. 2000) found that using tranquilizers to reduce stress during translocation did not increase post-release survival of European rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus. The re-sighting rate of rabbits that had been tranquilized over seven weeks after release did not differ significantly from that of non-tranquilized rabbits over the same period (data reported as statistical model results). In January 1997, a total of 104 rabbits were translocated from Parc-du-Sausset to an area of cultivated fields and pasture in Héric, 400 km away. Of these, approximately half were tranquillized just after capture using two intra-muscular injections of carazolol (0.1 mg/kg). Roughly half the tranquilized and half the non-tranquilized rabbits were acclimatised in 100-m² enclosures for three days prior to release. Survival was estimated from nocturnal spotlight re-sighting sessions conducted every evening during the first week following release. Thereafter, monitoring was reduced to twice/week for a further six weeks, until late-February.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
Letty J., Marchandeau S., Clobert J. & Aubineau J. (2000) Improving translocation success: an experimental study of anti-stress treatment and release method for wild rabbits. Animal Conservation, 3, 211-219.

Please cite as:

Littlewood, N.A., Rocha, R., Smith, R.K., Martin, P.A., Lockhart, S.L., Schoonover, R.F., Wilman, E., Bladon, A.J., Sainsbury, K.A., Pimm S. and Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Terrestrial Mammal Conservation: Global Evidence for the Effects of Interventions for terrestrial mammals excluding bats and primates. Synopses of Conservation Evidence Series. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

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This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Terrestrial Mammal Conservation

Related Actions

Actions	Effectiveness	Studies	Category
Provide supplementary food during/after release of translocated mammals Action Link	Likely to be beneficial	16	Synopsis Link
Airborne translocation of mammals using parachutes Action Link	Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)	1	Synopsis Link
Release translocated mammals into fenced areas Action Link	Beneficial	24	Synopsis Link