THE EFFECTS OF SOME FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH TRANSPORTATION ON THE BEHAVIORAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL REACTIONS OF FARMED RED DEER

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of several aspects of transportation (movement to a novel environment, reduced space allowa nce and deprivation of food and water) on the behavioural and physiolo gical responses of red deer. In two experiments conducted in winter an d summer, two groups of five adult male castrated red deer (housed at a space allowance of 2.7 m(2) per deer) were subjected to either 3- or 6-h treatment periods (without food and water) at a reduced space all owance (0.9 m(2) per deer). The effect of ambient temperature (9 degre es C, 13 degrees C and 20 degrees C) was also examined in the winter e xperiment. In both experiments, each of the two groups was subjected t o one treatment combination per week, in a random order. The deer lost live weight during treatment periods, although the rate of loss decre ased with time. In Experiment 1, there was a significantly larger incr ease in sodium concentration at the end of 6-h treatments than after 3 -h treatments (1.73 versus 0.30 mmol l(-1), P < 0.05), although other measures of dehydration were not affected by either the length of trea tment period or the ambient temperature. Neither plasma NEFA concentra tion nor plasma cortisol concentration were significantly affected by treatment periods. Proportionately more time was spent standing and mo ving during treatment periods, while less time was spent lying and gro oming (all P < 0.05). Behavioural changes during treatment periods wer e short-lived, as all activities had returned to (or approached) basel ine levels by 3 h after the treatment periods. In Experiment 1, a grea ter proportion of time was spent moving at the two higher temperatures , and there was more pen-directed activity during longer treatment per iods (P < 0.05). There were only minor between-experiment differences, suggesting that seasonality was not a major influence on the animals' responses. It is concluded that any behavioural and physiological cha nges were short-lived, and that the welfare of deer was not significan tly compromised by the aspects of transport investigated in the presen t study. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.