Deer will be transported by truck to the large animal surgery wing at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.  A team of surgeons and anesthesiologists will perform open or laparoscopic sterilizations.  MacLean et al. (2006) reported problems with laparoscopic deer surgery (n =3), but we previously had good success with 22 sterilization surgeries conducted on does from Cayuga Heights (unpubl. rept.).  The advantage of laparoscopic sterilization is that only 3 incisions about one inch in length are required.  This reduces the chance of infection and complications post-surgery.

Deer will be intubated for gas anesthesia, tipped up at a 45-degree angle on a laparotomy table.  Animals are prepared for surgery by shaving incision areas, coating with a betadine solution, and covering the deer with a sterile drape.  Tubal ligation surgery will be done on known pregnant deer so pregnancy won't be prematurely terminated. Non-pregnant deer will receive an ovariectomy to reduce the risk of the surgery being reversed during the healing process.

Post-surgery, deer will be monitored until they begin to regain consciousness.  Then they will be transported by truck back to their site of capture and released.  Telemetry will be used to monitor deer movements and health immediately post-surgery.  Deer will be checked every 4-6 hours for the first 48 hours after release. 

Any deer that die due to capture accidents, capture myopathy, or surgical complications will be necropsied to determine the cause of death.  Based on capture and/or treatment of more than 140 deer included in the Cayuga Heights study, our mortality rate immediately post-capture and surgery was approximately 3%.  In the current study, however, there have been no such mortalities.