Free-living primates should preferably be trapped and then immobilized for transportation, handling, treatment, etc. On the rare occasion when trapping is not an alternative, drugs may be used directly for the capture of free-living primates. Such instances must be viewed as the last resort. Drugs may be used to capture free-living primates either through a conventional darting system or through inclusion of the drug in food. Lightweight darts are essential, and unbarbed 20 x 1 mm needles should be used.
Drugs See individual species below.
It will normally be impossible to get close enough to dart a wild primate. A darted animal is likely to escape or, in the case of monkeys, climb into a tree. Troop members may mutilate a drugged animal before it can be recovered. In some cases this will be by simply walking up to the animals, while in other cases only thorough concealment will suffice. If the dart gun or the operator is seen, the animals may become nervous or even hysterical.