Wounds in Dromedary Camels During Chemical Immobilization

There are inherent risks to wildlife species whenever chemical immobilization is employed, and these are often more pronounced when dealing with larger species. These risks include complications like capture myopathy, aspiration, dehydration, hypothermia, hyperthermia, respiratory depression and/or arrest and cardiac arrest. Some of these complications can come about as the direct result of chemical immobilization, either due to inadvertent overdose, comorbidities or underlying sensitivities in individual animals.

Wounds incurred during capture events can occur as a result of an animal attempting to flee prior to immobilization, as it loses physical coordination during take-down after darting or (rarely) from the darts themselves.¹ Physical injuries are one of the most common threats to animals in the field. In some cases, animals may suffer severe injuries that kill them directly. In other cases, their injuries can affect them in ways that are indirectly fatal. Even when an animal doesn’t die as a direct or indirect result of an injury, it can be left in a permanently compromised state or with chronic pain.²

When an animal suffers a wound during capture/chemical immobilization, ethical imperatives dictate that those undertaking the research or wildlife management protocols make every effort to ensure that the animal is promptly treated so that it can make as complete a recovery as is possible.

Dromedary Camels: Habitat and Biology

The dromedary camel (Camelus dromedaries) occupies areas of the Middle East through northern India and desert regions in northern Africa. They were also introduced to central Australia during the 19^th Century for the purposes of exploration. Dromedary camels seem to prefer desert conditions; the introduction of these animals into other climates has proven unsuccessful, since they are sensitive to cold and humidity.⁴ This species differs from the Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), which has two humps instead of one and is native to east Asia. Bactrian camels are also more tolerant of the colder climate that exists throughout their range.

Camels were first domesticated between 3,000 to 3,500 years ago.³ They were used almost exclusively as pack animals on the Silk Road, the network of routes once used by traders between Europe and Asia.⁴ This was chiefly because they could carry more weight than horses or donkeys, needed less water and were able to thrive on tough desert plants.

Dromedary camels are large animals that stand approximately 7 feet high at the hump. They have a long, curved neck and a deep chest. The camel’s hump is composed of fat and fibrous tissue, which the animal draws upon as a food reserve in times of need. The size of the hump varies depending upon the status of the camel’s nutrition, growing smaller and leaning over during times of scarcity.³

The dromedary camel’s lips are bifurcated and thickened to allow for the consumption of coarse, thorny plants. Their feet are thick and wide, and adapted for traveling on sand. Male dromedaries are about 10% larger and heavier than females. Males also have an inflatable soft palate which is used to attract females.³ A double row of eyelashes protect the dromedary camel’s eyes from blowing sand and dust. When sandstorms occur, they have the ability to close their nostrils to prevent sand from entering the nose and throat.

Dromedary camels are also able to conserve water in a number of ways. First, they have the ability to fluctuate their body temperature throughout the day, allowing them to conserve water by not sweating as the outside temperature rises. They can tolerate greater than 30% water loss, which would typically be lethal to other mammals. Dromedary camels can also rehydrate very quickly; they are able to drink 30 gallons of water in around 15 minutes, which would also be lethal to other mammals.

As mentioned above, in the 1840's, dromedary camels were introduced to Australia to assist in the exploration of the inland regions of the continent. Today, there are over one million feral camels in the rangeland ecosystems of Australia.⁵Unfortunately, these animals are causing significant damage to the natural environment. As a management practice, radio-collared camels are now being used to enhance population control programs. The procedures involved include chemical immobilization, which runs the risk of certain complications, including wounds.

Treatment of Wounds in Dromedary Camels

Most camel injuries connected with capture events are experienced when animals are attempting to flee human pursuers,¹and the most common injuries suffered are lacerations. This is less likely to occur than in other large hoofstock due to the camel’s high level of domestication, but it can still occur. While remote drug delivery via darts are unlikely to result in a serious injury, darting can on occasion result in minor lacerations. Finally, in some cases a camel may need to be immobilized specifically for the treatment of a wound it has suffered due to other causes.

Small, shallow lacerations can be cleaned by flushing with a commercial povidone-iodine or other scrub solution. Deeper wounds can be flushed with povidone-iodine diluted with saline; these should generally not be sutured to allow for drainage.¹ The current literature recommends high volume and, ideally, high-pressure irrigation unless the tissue is very delicate. The suggested lavage volume is 50 to 100 mL of fluid per centimeter of wound. Low-pressure irrigation is gentle to tissues and does not force bacteria deeper into the wound, but it does not debride as well as high-pressure irrigation, which can be performed with a pressurized fluid bag or a large syringe with an 18-gauge catheter.⁷

For suturing more superficial wounds that have been cleaned, a veterinarian should perform the procedure. If a veterinarian is not immediately available, non-absorbable sutures should be used.

Any camel receiving a laceration prior to or during an anesthetic event should receive systemic antibiotics to reduce the likelihood of infection. Procaine penicillin G combined with benzathine penicillin G is a common formulation is these instances. Long-acting oxytetracycine is also frequently used to treat hoofstock that have suffered lacerations.⁷

There is no way to absolutely guarantee that wounds in dromedary camels will never occur given the inherent risks associated with chemical immobilization, particularly under field conditions. That said, the drug formulations currently available for immobilizing camels and other wildlife have been refined to a degree that eliminates much of the risk that existed years ago.