Jerry C. Haigh
UCVM, Univ. of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
As part of a pilot scheme to investigate methods of tagging adult Hood seals, 12 unrestrained Grey seals on Sable Island, Nova Scotia were darted. All seals in the study were injected with projectile syringes at ranges from 5 - 25 metres. The narcotic used was Fentanyl citrate in aqueous solution at 30 mg/ml. The narcotic antagonist was Naloxone hydrochloride. The weapons used were the Zoolu .22 blank powder projector and the Dist-inject air rifle. 10 cm needles were used for both darts. Thirteen darts were fired at 12 seals. One seal was not captured after the dart fractured at the needle/syringe junction. One seal was only partially sedated, and the antidote was administered I.M. before he entered the water. Three seals died, 2 from anoxia due to drug overdose and failure to inject narcotic antagonist, one from lung damage following deep needle penetration. Seven seals were immobilized either with or without added physical restraint. These varied from a 7 kg pup to a dog weighing from 250-300 kg. Induction times varied from 2.5-15 minutes. A net was 3 times used as a barrier to prevent seals entering the water during induction. The immobilization times, counted from the time that the animals could be safely handled to their return to normal locomotion following administration of the narcotic antagonist varied from 3-25 minutes. Further work is needed to establish the use of narcotics in wild seals.