Lüders, I.Tindall, BYoung, D.Van der Horst, G.Botha, S.Luther, I.Maree, L.Bertschinger, Hendrik Jan2016-05-112016-03Lüders, I, Tindall, B, Young , D, Van der Horst, G, Botha, S, Luther, I, Maree, L & Bertschinger, HJ 2016, 'Standing sedation with medetomidine and butorphanol in captive African elephants (Loxodonta africana)', Veterinary Journal, vol. 209, pp. 190-192.1090-0233 (print)10.1016/j.tvjl.2015.07.014http://hdl.handle.net/2263/52574Doses for standing sedation allowing for various procedures in otherwise inaccessible, untrained captive African elephant bulls are presented. Thirty-three standing sedations were performed in 12 males aged 8–30 years (one to four sedations per animal). Each bull received a combination of 0.009 ± 0.002 mg/kg medetomidine and 0.03 ± 0.007 mg/kg butorphanol. Full sedation was reached on average 25.5 min after injection. The addition of hyaluronidase (1000–2000 IU) significantly reduced time to full sedation to 16.5 min (paired t test, P = 0.024). Reversal was induced with intramuscular atipamezole 0.008 (±0.002) and naltrexone 0.035 (±0.015) mg/kg. Recovery took on average 7 min (3–18 min). The medetomidine/ butorphanol combination provided safe standing sedation for smaller procedures.en© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Notice : this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Veterinary Journal. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Veterinary Journal, vol. 209, pp. 190-192, 2016. doi : 10.1016/j.tvjl.2015.07.014.Elephant bullButorphanolMedetomidineHyaluronidaseAfrican elephantLoxodonta africanaPostprint Article