Improvement of the elk domestication technology at Sumarokovsky State Nature Reserve
¹State nature reserve Sumarokovsky 156940 Kostroma region, Krasnoselsky district, village of Sumarokovo, Russia
²Kostroma State Agricultural Academy 156530, Kostroma Region, Kostroma District, Karavaevo, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics, Faculty of Engineering and Technology (Agricultural Mechanization), Russia
³Ural State Agrarian University 620075, Sverdlovsk region, Ekaterinburg, International scientific educational and marketing center
*Correspondence: Resh_vv76@mail.ru
Abstract:
The paper discusses the technology of elk domestication and measures for its improvement at Sumarokovsky state nature reserve, the largest world center for the domestication of elks, as well as an environmental, research, cultural and educational institution. The article contains the data on ethological observations, the evolution of elk behavior in the conditions of ecological tourism, on elk keeping and on the conditions of the food base, on technological processes and suggests possible ways to correct them. It has the description of the organizational structure of the reserve, of the forestlands around and of their forage capacity; gives information about the vegetation composition, the mode of keeping and feeding elks. The reserve, due to its presence in a specially protected area, experiences significant restrictions on forest use on its territory, which leads to a deterioration and decrease in the area and quality of forage land for domesticated elks. The article shows the necessity of improving the regulatory framework as well as of the development and implementation of biotechnological measures to preserve and increase the forage capacity of frestland. It also shows that the technological chain of domestication makes it possible to get a controlled, stress-resistant, calm, friendly and safe animal, to carry out the selection period for the formation of dairy herds earlier, to obtain unique milk with both high nutritional and medicinal properties. Considering the fact that the largest number of domesticated elks in the world is concentrated in the reserve, the technology there is unique. Because of the potential danger of an elk as a source of human infection with various pathogens, the veterinary service requires intensification. It includes monitoring, development of treatment methods, drug application, prevention and control measures for diseases, provision of normative documents, etc. A change in the elk domestication technology under the increasing role of ecological tourism has led to the formation of a new economical type of a reserve, which combines elements of a stationary-exit, multidisciplinary and enclosure types.