Patent ID: 8061303

Claim:
A method of isolating one or more animals from a herd, comprising the steps of: providing an animal isolator comprising: a meshing enclosure for confining said one or more animals, comprising: a front wall, a rear wall, and a pair of opposing side walls comprising a first side wall and a second side wall, wherein said front wall, said rear wall, and said opposing side walls define an open ended enclosure; a partially closed base partially closing a first end of said open ended enclosure, wherein said partially closed base comprises a platform and an opening to said ground surface, wherein said platform defines at least four edges on a periphery of said platform, wherein two of said edges adjoin said first side wall and said second side wall, another one of said edges adjoins said front wall, and another one of said edges is exposed to said opening to said ground surface; a vehicle mounting assembly comprising: a plurality of tubular structures disposed on a lower surface of said platform of said partially closed base, wherein each of said tubular structures defines a front edge aligned with an edge common to said platform and said front wall; and an attachment unit provided on said front wall for detachably attaching said meshing enclosure to one of a rear end and a front end of said vehicle; and a gate for confining said one or more animals to a region defined by said platform, wherein said gate extends from said first side wall to said second side wall; detachably attaching said meshing enclosure to one of said rear end and said front end of a vehicle using said vehicle mounting assembly; raising said detachably attached meshing enclosure above ground surface and driving said vehicle through said herd; lowering said detachably attached meshing enclosure over said one or more animals from said herd and capturing said one or more animals through said opening in said partially closed base of said detachably attached meshing enclosure for isolating said one or more animals from said herd; driving said captured one or more animals onto said platform by advancing said gate towards said platform, wherein said gate traverses a region defined by said opening to said ground surface to drive said captured one or more animals onto said platform in said meshing enclosure; and confining said captured one or more animals to a region defined by said platform in said meshing enclosure using said gate; whereby said confinement of said captured one or more animals in said detachably attached meshing enclosure isolates said captured one or more animals from said herd.