Blood-Gas Analyses from Free-Ranging Eurasian Black Vultures(Aegypius monachus) in Mongolia and the Republic of Korea

From 2011 thru 2014 the Denver Zoological Foundation, in collaboration with colleagues from Mongolia and the Republic of Korea (R. of Korea), collected venous blood samples for blood-gas analyses, from free-ranging and rehabilitation Eurasian Black Vultures (EbV, Aegypius monachus). The birds were hand-captured, hand-netted, or canon-netted. The sample analyses were determined using the i-STAT® portable chemistry analyzer. We performed venous blood-gas analyses in Mongolia and hand-netted rehabilitation birds in the R. of Korea, within minutes of venipuncture. There was a 2-3 hr. delay prior to analysis for canon-netted birds in the R. of Korea. We cooled these samples prior to analysis. A variety of venous blood-gas analyses were performed including; acid-base analytes (pH, PCO2, and HCO3), in addition to TCO2, Base Excess, Anion Gap, and lactate levels, venous oxygenation status (PO2 and sO2), and temperature, pulse and respiration rates (TPR). For pH, PCO2, and sO2 samples we report temperature corrected and non-temperature corrected results. From the data we constructed a blood-gas analyte and TPR reference range with a 95% predictive index. Results from these analyses were useful in assessing the health status for two vultures adversely affected by capture.