A Technique for Immobilizing and Marking Polar Bears
- 1 April 1968
- journal article
- research article
- Published by JSTOR in The Journal of Wildlife Management
- Vol. 32 (2) , 317-+
- https://doi.org/10.2307/3798976
Abstract
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game immobilized and marked 31 polar bears Ursus maritimus) north of Point Barrow in April, 1967. Bears were located by tracking on the ocean ice with a helicopter. A fixed-wing plane assisted in locating bears and carried extra gasoline for the helicopter. Bears were immobilized with Sernylan (phencyclidine hydrochloride) delivered with a syringe gun from the helicopter. Both sexes and all age-classes encountered were immobilized. Bears receiving an adequate first injection of Sernylan were immobilized in from 3 to 13 min. Observed recovery times ranged from 0. 5 to 3 hr. Bears were marked with ear tags, ear markers, tattoos, and collars.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: