International Conference on Wildlife Fertility Control Arrives in Colorado Springs

Gov. Polis Addresses Opening Session After Calling for A Halt to Wild HorseRoundupsLast Week

Cañon City, Colorado (May 24, 2022) – TheAmerican Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign)(AWHC), the nation’s leading wild horse protection organization, delivered public remarks on the opening night at the9th International Conference on Wildlife Fertility Controlin Colorado Springs hosted by the Botstiber Institute for WildlifeFertility Control. AWHC is a platinum sponsor of the conference.

The international conference is convening global professionals and scientists to Colorado to discuss humane wildlife management, at a time when the state is determining how to improve stewardship of its historic and federally-protected wild horse herds amidst a deadly disease outbreak at a wild horse holding facility in the state. Since mid-April,144 wild horses have perishedat the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Cañon City Corrals, where 2,400 wild horses who have been rounded up and removed frompublic landsare confined.

Yesterday morning, Colorado Governor Jared Polis addressed attendees at thefertility controlconference, which is being held in Colorado Springs. His remarks follow his statementlast Thursdaycalling onBLMstate Acting Director Stephanie Connolly to halt Colorado’s next wild horse roundup in Piceance Basin, west of Meeker. Polis also called for further review of theBLM’s holding corrals, including biosecurity measures and vaccination protocols, and for improvements in the management of Colorado’s wild herds.

The American Wild Horse Conservation operates theworld’s largest wild horse fertility control programon a historic population of 3,000 wild horses in the greater Reno, Nevada area. The program, operated under a cooperative agreement with theNevada Department of Agriculture, has treated over 1,700 mares (female horses) with the PZP immunocontraceptive vaccine and reduced the foaling rate by 68 percent since 2020.

Holly Gann Bice, AWHC’s director of government relations, who spoke at the conference yesterday evening, stated the following:

The conference continues through tomorrow.

The identified contagion of the wild horse disease outbreak is Equine Influenza Virus (EIV), a virus that is routinely vaccinated against in the equine world and is included in theBLM’s vaccine regimen for captured animals. All 144 of the deceased wild horses originally came from theBLMWest Douglas Herd Area – also in Colorado – and were either unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated against EIV. The horses were rounded up in July/August of 2021 and inBLM’s care for nearly 10 months.

The Cañon City disease outbreak and increased public attention also led U.S.Representatives Dina Titus (D-NV) and Steve Cohen (D-TN)to urgeU.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haalandto investigate holding facilities and put a halt to wild horse and burroroundups.

About the American Wild Horse Conservation

TheAmerican Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign)(AWHC) is the nation’s leading wild horse protection organization, with more than 700,000 supporters and followers nationwide. AWHC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse and burros in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.

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