THE BEHAVIORAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL-RESPONSES OF FARMED RED DEER (CERVUS-ELAPHUS) PENNED ADJACENT TO OTHER SPECIES

The experiment describes the implications of red deer (Cervus elaphus) being kept in pens in close proximity to other species as may occur d uring abattoir lairage. Twenty groups of five male yearling red deer w ere used to study behavioural and physiological responses over a 2-h p eriod to one of five treatments: red deer penned adjacent to either an empty pen, unfamiliar red deer, cattle or pigs, and red deer which ha d previously been exposed to cattle (previously grazed adjacent to cat tle) penned adjacent to cattle. Alert behaviour was significantly affe cted by treatment and groups of red deer penned next to cattle spent m ore time being alert than when next to unfamiliar red deer (0.68 vs. 0 .32 scans; P < 0.05). Red deer next to cattle or pigs tended to spend less time idling than when next to an empty pen and engaged in more ag onistic interactions over a 2-h period (15.6 and 22.8 vs. 6.1 interact ions per deer respectively; P < 0.001). When next to cattle or pigs, l ess lying was observed than when next to unfamiliar red deer and red d eer were less dispersed in the test pen, spending more time in areas f urthest away from the alternative species than in areas closest to the m (P < 0.001). Heart rates of red deer penned next to cattle (70.3 bea ts per min (bpm)), pigs (77.5 bpm) and unfamiliar red deer (72.1 bpm) were not significantly different. Red deer previously exposed to cattl e and penned next to cattle and red deer penned next to pigs had highe r heart rates than those penned next to an empty pen (79.1 and 77.5 vs , 67.3 bpm; P<0.01 and P<0.05 respectively). Plasma cortisol concentra tions in samples collected at 20-min intervals, using a remote blood s ampling system (two replicate groups of five deer per treatment), were higher in red deer penned next to unfamiliar red deer (69.8 nmol l(-1 )) than in the other treatments (mean values between 33.0 and 53.1 nmo l l(-1): P < 0.01). Total lactate dehydrogenase activity was significa ntly affected by treatment (P < 0.01) and was greatest in red deer nex t ro unfamiliar red deer (599 IU l(-1)) but there was no treatment eff ect on LDH5 isoenzyme activity. It was concluded that there was some e vidence to suggest that previous exposure to cattle made red deer exhi bit more aversion to cattle when subsequently penned adjacent to them and that pigs appeared to be more aversive to the red deer than cattle . (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.