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Those are really cool Alf. Thanks for sharing them.
David

Hi Alf, I have heard of girraffe being roped, but was not sure if it was done to save on M99 as such. I am sure there is no need of sedatives though, just wait for the animal to choke and fall unconscious! Jokes! I believe that they are a problem when they lie down, I think it is due to their high blood pressure, required to pump blood all the way up to their head, and when the head is down for a while, I can imagine it is not good for them. I am sure that it must require quite a few hands though and some serious manual labour, especially for large males. I would hate to be dragged for miles through Acacias.....OUCH! I am sure you have to be pretty careful when getting close too, an un-sedated girrie would give you one hell of a skop I am sure!

Alf, I believe that getting pricked by even an empty dart or one that you have charged with M99 is enough to make you sleep maybe permanently, it is hectic stuff indeed!

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Interesting capture photos. How about some processing photos? Also, more stories of mayhem are needed!

ALF, I agree with Yukon, we need some stories here! I can not imagine how painfull a zebra bite is...Damn! I have seen stallions bite the cr$p out of each other, but shudder to think how painfull it must actually be! As to sharp horns, I can imagine even impala being dangerous, especially if you are using nets for small game capture (not sure if they still use this method all that much, I think it is quite stressfull to the animals and most likely the staff as well)!

In the early days of game capture, when Ken Stewart was doing it in East Africa, it was common practice to chase the game hell for leather in open topped landrovers and then catch them with lassoos on long poles. - Ken tells some incredible stories of those days and is currently working on and off on a book about the good old days and if it ever gets to publication, I reckon it'll be a great read.

I've never darted giraffe but have heard that as Alf says, they're very sensitive to M99. Don't know if immobilon or a cocktail of the two would work though....... I've only ever caught them with (R22) choppers.

I was referring to a UK TV programmes where they got a bunch of Brit volunteers to help build and stock a photo safari lodge in (I think) Zambia. One of the 'experts' was an ex army type who knew bugger all about game capture and he insisted that the only way to capture giraffe was with ropes...... I don't remember how many giraffes he killed during the project, but it was at least one and possibly more.

In reality it's common practice nowadays (and has been for some years) to capture them with a helicopter and some high taupaulins etc (As shown in Alf's picture). - No drugs, very little stress (at least on the animals part!)........ the guy really was a know nothing idiot.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
I've never darted giraffe but have heard that as Alf says, they're very sensitive to M99.

Shakari

That they are. From the perspective of the game owner (me on my game ranch - Limpopo province, SA) the capturing of Giraffe is something else and quite an action packed story.

The transition of risk of ownership is also an interesting one. When the animal is on the ground and being chased, the risk is mine (as the owner) and if it gets hurt or dies - my loss. As soon as the vet in the chopper calls "the dart is in", I relax as the risk/ownership has now passed to the game capturer and if it gets hurt or dies now - his loss as my sale is done.

The guys get it right just about always, but we lost 2 out of 6 one day. One - a young cow - got too little M99 and just kept on running until it hit a fence in its dazed state, dislocating a hip. Had to be put down. Very sad and expensive. The other one - a young bull - got too much M99, and ran into some heavy Mopane trees and died standing up - on 4 legs, dead. Bad - and expensive.

Fortunately, on both animals, the call "the dart is in" was made so I got my money and the game capturer bought 2 dead giraffe. Shit happens.

The Vet obviously blamed everything but his decision on dosage. By the way, in SA, only a licenced and qualified/approved Vet is allowed to have these chemicals as well as to do the darting.

I have pictures of these events somewhere. I'll see if I can find them.

When I was younger and beleived in such things as game ranches, unicorns, and watched Hatari 3 times a day, I always wanted a game ranch.

Now that I am 33, realize that there is no financial way to start a new ranch on what I make or buy an exhisting ranch in Texas or South Africa and make it work. The thought gives me a little sadness.

So here I sit in fifteenth year of my boat-less Navy job day dreaming about having gemsbok, kudu, sable, waterbuck, roan, rhino, cape buffalo, and another 50 species.

Oh well, going to buy another Powerball Lottery ticket, it's $230 million US today. Maybe my number is up.

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ALF

You are giving your age away! As a kid I spent some time with Eddie Young when he was still working in the Kruger National Park as a vet. He was an awesome pioneer in the field of all matters related to the sustainable and commercial management & utilization of game in the early days. It was a really sad event that he had to die so early. Early 80's if I remember right? Any student in the field of African wildlife management will know of the work and publications of Eddie Young.

We have to keep in mind that private ownership of wild animals (game) only became a reality in South Africa around 1972 or so. That is when the fences started going up, etc.