Laparoscopic Vasectomy for Poplulation Control in Free Ranging African Elephants

Key Points

• In much of southern Africa there appears to be a larger population of elephants than can be supported by the available land.
• MIS can be successfully performed in the African Bush.
• Specialized equipment is required to perform laparoscopic vasectomy in megavertabrates.

Introduction
Habitat destruction is a major concern on the reserves of southern Africa. Elephants have been noted to knock down trees and “bark” trees as part of their foraging. The damage to trees is creating potential problems with other wildlife as they lose valuable habitat. There are many theories as to the cause of the focused destruction. Are there too many elephants or too little available habitat. Has poaching control reduced the loss of elephants to a point that the available land space is not enough for the elephants? Has the improvement of water sources increased the breeding success of the elephants? The purpose of this presentation is to briefly describe a minimally invasive surgical technique for vasectomy in free-ranging African Elephants. We hypothesized that vasectomizing the dominant bull would reduce population growth by limiting “sneak” breeding by younger/sub-dominant bulls.

Anatomy
Elephants have intra-abdominal testes, located just caudal and lateral to the kidney, and what is best described as a 1 m long epididymis. Consequently, and intra-abdominal approach is necessary for performing a vasectomy. The major challenges with the surgical approach include skin that is approximately 3.5 cm thick and a very dense/elastic peritoneum.  [...]