Day 10: Sable Poop

 This morning, we returned to Batiki to help with some routine herd health tasks. The original plan had been to do some more darting, but a cold front came through last night and the weather conditions were unfavorable for darting this morning. A nice late 7:30 departure left us feeling rested and ready. 

Arriving at Batiki again, we piled into one bakkie and headed out to scout sable poop. In order to efficiently control intestinal parasites, it is necessary to know which parasites, and in what amounts, are present in a given herd and location. The best way to do this is to collect fresh feces from a number of animals and count the number of parasite eggs in a standard sample size. Now collecting a fresh sample from a pet is a fairly easy task. It becomes a bit more of a challenge in herds of animals in large enclosures. We followed the feed truck as it distributed supplemental hay and feed to keep the sable healthy through the dry winter months. They were used to this process, so came up to eat. 

We waited nearby, several of us with binoculars, watching for individual animals to poop. Then a student would walk calmly in and find the fresh, warm sample and collect it in a plastic bag and label it, while someone with binolculars tried to read the ear tag identifying the individual animal that donated the sample. We had a target number of samples to take in each enclosure based upon the number of animals contained, so there was quite a lot of waiting around for physiology to be generous. Labelled samples were stored in a cooler with ice packs to prevent the samples deteriorating before they could be analysed. 

We collected samples from 4 different camps (enclosures), which pretty well finished up the morning.

We did encounter some excitement at our final camp, which was a large group of young bulls. Somehow our presence disturbed them, and an aggressive scuffle broke out among several of them. There was chasing, horn clashing, more chasing, ganging up, and a quick return to the safety of the bakkie for the students on the ground! 

 We returned to the farmhouse to use the indoor plumbing and eat our packed lunches (after liberal use of disinfecting handwipes). 

At this point, I caught a ride with Rita back to the lodge, where I performed the difficult duty of dogsitting for Carli.

The students remained at Batiki to analyse the stool samples. The basic process is to mix a given sample of feces with a solution that is more dense than the parasite eggs (adult worms are rarely passed in feces; we are looking for the eggs that are shed). A super-saturated sugar solution or a zinc sulfate solution are most commonly used. Once the feces is dissolved in the solution, either gravity or a centrifuge is used to allow the parasite eggs to float to the surface. Then a sample is removed and placed in a specialized microscope slide with  a thin flat chamber marked with a grid. The slide is placed under the microscope, and parasite species are identified and counted.

With these results, it is possible to control parasites in a reasonable way. It is rare and somewhat unnatural to have a herd be completely parasite-free; having low numbers helps the animals retain some immunity and keeps the parasites susceptible to available medications. Deworming too often or with the wrong product, in addition to being logistically difficult and expensive, creates resistance. Repeatedly using the same antiparasitic medication selects for parasites that can withstand it, until pretty much all the remaining parasites are unaffected by the medication, and cannot be treated with it anymore. Being selective and tolerating a low parasite burden helps alleviate this issue. 

It is hard to believe that we have only 3 working days left. As many great things as we get to do here, it is always so difficult to leave! I'm hoping that the hyena will come in tonight for us, especially since we all are a bit more rested. Since I had free time, I am updating early, and signing off to go in to supper. I'll describe our no doubt delicious meal for you tomorrow!