BLM Sterilization Project Blocked; Oregon Wild Horse Herd to be Relocated
February 20, 2019
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has halted its controversial sterilization project for wild horses in Oregon. This decision follows a legal challenge by animal rights groups. The BLM now proposes to relocate the herd, with public comments open until March 17.
Background on the Sterilization Project
The BLM aimed to adopt or sell hundreds of wild horses rounded up in Oregon last fall as part of a sterilization research project. This project was abandoned after animal rights groups challenged it in federal court. The BLM plans to return about 66 of the 845 wild horses gathered in October to the Warm Springs Herd Management Area (HMA) in central Oregon. The bureau intends to adopt, sell, or transfer the remaining "excess" horses, which it claims exceed the rangeland's capacity.
Proposed Fertility Control Measures
The BLM proposes using a temporary fertility vaccine, porcine zona pellucida (PZP), on approximately 33 mares before returning them, along with 33 stallions, to the herd management area. PZP renders mares infertile for about a year. Returning only 66 of the rounded-up wild horses will keep herd sizes under the Warm Springs HMA's appropriate management level (AML), which is set at no more than 178 horses and 24 burros.
Public and Advocacy Group Reactions
The plan to return some wild horses to the range has pleased animal welfare and wild horse advocacy groups. Brieanah Schwartz, government relations and policy counsel for the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign), stated, "The BLM made the right decision to abandon these barbaric experiments and to return wild horses to the Warm Springs HMA, where they have a right to live in their natural habitat, protected under federal law." The American Wild Horse Conservation was part of a coalition that sued the BLM and then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to stop the research.
Schwartz added, "It's time for the BLM to focus on humane, publicly supported, and scientifically recommended population management methods, such as the proven PZP fertility control, to keep wild horses wild and free on our public lands." BLM representatives did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Legal and Procedural Developments
The new proposal comes nearly four months after the BLM announced it would not pursue research on a procedure called ovariectomy via colpotomy, which involved removing the ovaries from about 100 mares gathered from the Warm Springs HMA. The research was abandoned after U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman in Oregon issued a preliminary injunction halting the sterilization research and an accompanying behavioral analysis of the spayed mares.
The injunction was prompted by a federal lawsuit filed by a coalition of wild horse and animal rights groups. The Department of Justice submitted a formal motion to the court stating the BLM was canceling the research but would retain the portion of the decision record allowing it to permanently remove excess horses from the range.
Future of the Wild Horses
With only some of the rounded-up animals set to return to the range, the BLM must adopt, sell, or transfer more than 650 horses to other agencies. If not, it will be forced to keep them in long-term holding pens and corrals, where the bureau estimates it can cost up to $48,000 to care for each animal over their lifetimes.
The BLM's decision record cites "limited water availability" in the HMA and "deteriorating conditions of the natural surface roads used for hauling water" as reasons why most of the excess wild horses and burros cannot return to the range.
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