Group Accuses BLM of Experimenting on Wild Horses
The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) has raised concerns about the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) decision to use an experimental fertility control vaccine on wild horses in Nevada. The organization claims that the BLM is ignoring scientific advice and environmental complaints.
Last month, the American Wild Horse Conservation filed a complaint with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) against the BLM to halt a plan to use the experimental drug GonaCon on federally protected wild horses. The long-term effects of the vaccine are unknown, and the National Academy of Sciences recommended further research on GonaCon's impacts on wild horse behavior before its use.
The organization urged the CEQ to direct the BLM to stop the pilot program until a comprehensive environmental analysis is completed, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. They also called for a formal scientific study to assess the vaccine's physiological and behavioral effects on horses.
“We are disappointed that the White House office that is supposed to ensure agency compliance with environmental laws is allowing the BLM to experiment on America’s wild horses without any scientific oversight, review, or, for that matter, any scientific method for determining the impacts of the experiments on the horses themselves,” said Deniz Bolbol, AWHC director of field operations.
The BLM Ely District Office is proposing a 10-year fertility control pilot program for wild horses in the Water Canyon area of the Antelope Herd Management Area (HMA). The agency plans to use helicopters to remove all estimated 60 wild horses in the area, returning only 15 stallions and 15 mares, with all mares inoculated with GonaCon.
In 2014, the BLM's Northeast Great Basin Resource Advisory Council recommended a humane fertility control program using the PZP birth control vaccine, which has been safely used in wild horses for over 20 years.
“The BLM is pretending that science is guiding its wild horse and burro management strategies and yet the agency is galloping ahead with the first-time use of an experimental drug in the total absence of science and in contradiction of the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences,” Bolbol continued.
The only available data on GonaCon in wild horses comes from a study of 15 free-roaming mares tracked for one year post-vaccination. The current pilot program lacks a rigorous scientific study conducted with a reputable academic institution to determine GonaCon's effects on wild horses.
Originally Posted By Elko Daily