Birth Control for mustangs by Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick
Is Immunocontraception, a viable plan to "save" the mustangs from over population?

Dear Judy, 

In reality PZP has already proven to be a valuable tool. It is already being used at the management level by the National Park Service, at Assateague and Cape Lookout National Seashores, on Carrot Island, in NC, for the Rachel Carson National Estuarine Reserve, and on the Pryor Mountain in MT and Little Book Cliff National Wild Horse ranges in CO.  The issue at hand is not whether the PZP works well or not, but how to deliver it and make it more efficient in larger herds in states like Nevada. The trick to this is making a single inoculation last for several years. To that end we have been experimenting for at least ten years with a longer-acting form of the vaccine. 

One form has already been shown to be very effective over two years and with some effects at three years as well, but it is rather expensive to put together.  We are now experimenting with another method that is half as expensive and we should know something by later in this year. (?) The reasons for their faulty decisions and neglect are multiple and some are lodged in conflict of interest issues within the organization and related groups. 

Your suggestion of delivery approaches such as helicopter delivery have not even been explored to date.  All that said, last year we treated about 1,400 BLM horses and this year they would like to treat a like (same) number. Finally, the delays in moving forward are more in the realm of politics and cultural biases than science.  While their problems are not on the same scale, the National Park Service never seemed to get bogged down by the same political garbage as the Biological Resources Division and indirectly, the BLM.

Jay F. Kirkpatrick, Ph.D. Director / The Science and Conservation Center/Billings, Mt 59106