EFFECTS OF IMPLANTED RADIOTRANSMITTERS ON CAPTIVE MOURNING DOVES

Previous mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) telemetry studies using tran smitter glue attachment have found the technique to be relatively shor t term (<10 weeks), and that transmitter harnesses possibly have delet erious effects on doves. To improve attachment methods, we developed a nd refined surgical techniques for implanting subcutaneous and intra-a bdominal radiotransmitters with external whip antennas in mourning dov es, and we determined physiological and pathological responses to the transmitter implants. We used a captive colony of 200 wild-trapped mou rning doves to develop and test procedures for subcutaneous implants ( SC1), subcutaneous surgeries without implants (SC2), intra-abdominal i mplants (IA1), intra-abdominal surgeries without implants (IA2), and a control group without surgeries or implants (CNT); 20 males and 20 fe males were assigned to each experimental group. Surgeries for IA1 took less time (3.58 +/- 0.17 min; (x) over bar +/- SE; P < 0.001) than SC 1 surgeries (4.36 +/- 0.12 min). Heterophil:lymphocyte ratios showed t hat IA1 and IA2 doves had higher (P = 0.024) posttreatment changes com pared with SC1, SC2, or CNT groups. At 4-6 days postsurgery, 153 of 16 0 (95.6%) doves with surgical treatments showed closed or healed surgi cal sites with no complications. At 14 days posttreatment, 34 (87%) SC 1 implants were located in the thoracic inlet. Gross necropsy findings at 10 weeks postsurgery found that 36 of 39 (92%) SC1 and 36 of 39 (9 2%) IA1 implants showed little or no tissue response to the implants. Functioning transmitters began failing 2 weeks posttreatment, and 85% were not working at 10 weeks posttreatment. Our data suggest subcutane ous implants with external antennas were a better alternative compared to intra-abdominal implants with external antennas, but further testi ng is needed to compare subcutaneous implants to conventional attachme nt techniques.