Federal Contraceptive Program Advances for US Wild Horses

Federal lawmakers are advancing a significant step towards humane management of wild horses with dedicated funding forfertility controlprograms. This initiative aims to curb population growth and reduce the need for controversialroundups.

Horse Talk NZ

October 23, 2021

Federal lawmakers are on track to dedicate funding in the next financial year for a humanefertility controlprogram for wild horses.

On Monday, the USSenateAppropriations Committee included critical directives in the Interior appropriations bill, which will cover the next fiscal year, for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to administer reversiblefertility controlvaccines to wild horses.

In July, House appropriators likewise set aside significant funding to scale up the use offertility controlvaccines.

This is the first time Congress has set aside dedicated funding for theBLMto develop a humanefertility controlprogram.

The Animal Welfare Institute and the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) applauded theSenateAppropriations Committee for including the funding.

Senateappropriators provided $US11 million for the BLM, which manages most of America’s wild horses, to administer reversiblefertility controlvaccines, such as the widely supported Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) immunocontraceptive vaccine, which is 90% effective at preventing pregnancy in horses.

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) championed the inclusion of funding to “implement a robust and humanefertility controlstrategy.”

The request was supported by many lawmakers from western states, as well as key members of the Appropriations Committee.

The committee explicitly noted that reversible immunocontraceptive vaccines are available for theBLMto use immediately as a means of curbing population growth.

TheBLMmust report back within 45 days with its strategy for a vaccination initiative.

To date, the agency has declined to implement effectivefertility controlmeasures that would keep herds on the range. Instead, it routinely removes wild horses through helicopterroundups.

TheBLMcurrently spends less than 1% of its Wild Horse and Burro Program budget onfertility control, but spends about $US60 million annually on removing wild horses from public lands designated for their use, the advocacy groups noted.

The captured horses are moved to off-range holding facilities for the rest of their lives.

In July, House appropriators likewise set aside significant funding to scale up the use offertility controlvaccines, meaning both the House andSenatebills are aligned in directing the BLM to pursue this management approach.

Importantly, theSenate’s language also recognizes that a strategy premised on removals is counterproductive because it has the “unintended effect of increasing foaling”. This echoes the National Academy of Sciences’ key finding thatroundupsaccelerate population growth rates through a biological phenomenon called compensatory reproduction.

In addition to maintaining longstanding critical provisions intended to prevent wild horses and burros from being sent to slaughter, theSenatebill further calls for the Department of the Interior to form an inter-agency council to address wild horse and burro management.

However, theSenateInterior appropriations language was not uniformly positive for wild horses. The committee noted its support for the prior administration’s report toCongresson wild horse management, which called for accelerated removals, which would balloon the number of wild horses kept in captivity. The Animal Welfare Institute and the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) labelled this stance ill-advised, saying the costs in the first five years alone could hit nearly $US1 billion.

Notwithstanding this stance on accelerated removals, the House andSenate’s comprehensive directives would otherwise result in meaningful reforms to the broken federalWild Horse and Burro Program, the two advocacy groups said.

Holly Gann Bice, the director of government relations for the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign), said the group applauded theSenateAppropriations Committee for what she described as a historic step toward reforming the Wild Horse and Burro Program by providing $US11 million in funding forfertility control.

It was, she said, a humane on-range management strategy that will ultimately help keep these animals in the wild where they belong.

“We’re deeply grateful to Senator Booker, subcommittee Chair Jeff Merkley, and others for providing the necessary leadership to place theBLMon a better track for thehumane managementof our Western herds.”

Originally posted by Horse Talk NZ