Letter: Concerns Over Horse Sterilization Procedures

Priscilla Cohn’s April 10 As I See It piece, "Sterilization is a Bad Idea," raises important questions for all those who care about ethical behavior and our national heritage. In May, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to surgically sterilize 225 wild mustang mares and immature fillies now in holding pens at its Hines, Oregon corral. The experimental surgeries will be conducted in cooperation with Oregon State University.

By the BLM’s estimates, the proposed surgeries will put many pregnant wild mares and fillies in danger of serious injury and death. Two of the proposed procedures have not been tried on domestic horses. All would be carried out without the pre-operative and post-operative methods that are the standard of care for equines.

The research will simply delay solutions to managing wild horse population levels. PZP, a reversible fertility control vaccine that does not change herd dynamics or horses’ hormonal balance, was recommended by the National Academy of Sciences as a well-proven methodology for wild equines — unlike surgical sterilization.

The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 defines mustangs as integral to the lands in which they live and an essential part of our national heritage. They are not laboratory rats to be subjected to misguided tests.

Oregon State University’s Institutional Animal Care Committee will shortly meet to decide whether or not to put OSU’s good name in question by participating in these unwarranted, abusive experiments. Not only the fate of these terrified wild mares and fillies is at stake. Our integrity is also at play.

Originally posted by Corvallis Gazette-Times