For the past couple of years, there has been no solution on the market for tracking darted animals, but this has changed with the introduction of DANiNJECT TrackDart.

Carsten Grøndahl is the chief veterinarian at the Copenhagen Zoo and is internationally recognized for his expertise in wildlife immobilization. He has been among the first to try out the new VHF tracking dart.

“It’s a new and improved version of the old tracking dart. It’s lighter and has a significantly longer range and battery time. I’ve used it on two occasions in Lille Vildmose in Denmark, both for immobilizing red deer."

"Beforehand, I was a bit concerned that the longer tail on the TrackDart would disturb the ballistics, but this was not the case. We darted the animals up to 25 meters away, and we found all the animals that were tranquilized,” Carsten Grøndahl says.

Carsten Grøndahl has also been involved in testing the new dart, and whereas the previous has a maximum range of 15-20 meters, the new one has proved itself up to 30-40 meters.

The TrackDart carries a VHF transmitter designed for a 3.0 ml dart, which naturally adds both length and weight to the dart. Even though the new version is several grams lighter than its predecessors, it’s still important to be aware that shooting the TrackDart is different and requires practice, says Carsten Grøndahl.

Unique opportunity to track

According to Carsten Grøndahl, the introduction of TrackDart opens up new opportunities for wildlife vets.

“It’s a unique opportunity to track animals in difficult terrain or at night. You might think you will be able to find the darted animals again, but in many cases, you will be surprised how well they are able to hide. I’ve darted a wild boar that we were able to track with a VHF receiver down to a 10 m radius, but we still couldn’t see it. Without the VHF tracking, we would have never found it, but at least now we knew where to search and ended up finding it under some mountain pines."

Advice for new users of TrackDart

Based on his experiences, Carsten Grøndahl has some advice for new users of TrackDart:

• Make sure you have a small tweezer to gently pull out the dart from the barrel if you need to reload, as the tail will be too deep in the barrel for you to reach it.
• Make sure to create a new shooting chart because of the weight and deeper placement in the barrel.
• Make sure to practice, both shooting and using the VHF receiver for tracking.