San Felipe Pueblo Trys PZP Contraceptive on Wild Horses

I am often the target of lectures by ranching friends of mine who  advocate a drastic reduction of the Wild Horse population and total removal from Federals Lands so that more land is available for cattle grazing.

I also get taken to task by Wild Horse advocates for supporting the re-introduction of horse slaughter plants and m which demonstrates an less than "100%" support for Mustangs.

No matter what your opinion is, one thing is for sure.............the Wild Horse and Burro issue is a pretty complex problem:

~ Mustang herds are growing rapidly and competing for cattle for grazing which has been exacerbated by drought conditions in most western states;
~ The BLM conducting brutal roundups and sometimes the subsequent holding of Wild Horses are in terrible conditions;
~ People not understanding that ranchers actually pay the government to graze on federal lands, and in some cases this federal land was taken away from families, so some see it has paying for land they should be rightfully allowed to use.
~ The often adversarial relationship between federal land managers (BLM or USFS) and the cattle owners,.....remember the Bundy Ranch standoff in Nevada earlier this year?;
~ The extent of large Federal Government land holdings in western states from 22% in Washington State to 76% in Nevada - and sometimes the reality is that a distant federal landlord is not knowledgable about local problems nor fair in resolving some of the issues;
~ Animal rights activists using political pressure to keep horse slaughter plants from opening, preventing a final solution for unwanted horses.

In any extent there are so many factors in the larger issue that can't be solved by approaching them from a pure emotional angle. But one of the many potential solutions could be a contraceptive program - reducing the number of Mustang studs, gelding many of the studs and colts, and drugs to control the fertility of mares. Some this is coming true as the San Felipe Pueblo of New Mexican are moving forward with a vaccination program to reduce mares' abilities to reproduce. The below story came out of KRQE News 13 in Albuquerque.

A New Mexico pueblo is taking new steps to manage its wild horses.  As of now, it’s the only group in the state doing it and they have got high hopes for their unique solution. “This is our first time doing it and so far, it’s been pretty good success,” said Ricardo Ortiz, a land management specialist with the pueblo.

That success has come in the form of a vaccination called PZP.  Porcine zona pellucida (PZP), is a vaccine that stimulates the target animal to produce antibodies, which attach to its own glycoprotein membrane (ZP) that surrounds the female animal's eggs. This vaccine comes from pigs, hence the Porcine preceding the ZP. 

“What it does it controls the birthing for the mares,” Ortiz said. Within the last week, Ortiz said they have given the PZP to 11 mares. “The mares have that birth control for two years,” he said.

Using a dart gun, trained specialists administer the vaccination. Mares would need the vaccine every two years to limit pregnancies. Ortiz had to go to Montana to become certified. “As we move along, we’ll start seeing how it affects the population,” he said.

As far as who foots the bill, it falls on the pueblo. Ortiz says it can get a little pricey with the training and equipment. “This is something also new to the pueblo in a way that is a humane way of taking care of the issue,” Ortiz said. The vaccine does not affect mares that are already pregnant.

The San Felipe Pueblo is also proposing a 3,000-acre horse sanctuary using federal land. PZP has also been used recently to control bison populations in California and on elephant reserves in Africa.

The San Felipe are one of 19 Pueblos of New Mexico which also include the Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, Pojoaque, Sandia, San Ildefonso, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque, Zia, and the Zuni.

The following video, from September 20th, 2014 shows the San Felipe Pueblo making their point on a strong stand for horses as wild life, for wild horse management utilizing PZP immune-contraception which is in line with Science and Nature also inline with the National Academy of Sciences report and advice to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).




The video, below, shows the darting process using PZP on adopted wild horse mares, from the Wild Love Preserve in the Central Idaho High Desert, who stated they darted 54 mares in one hour.

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