PZP Pilot Project: Treating Wild Horses in Fish Springs Community

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign), in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management and thePine Nut Wild Horse Advocates, has embarked on a pilotfertility controlprogram for wild horses living in theFish Springsarea of Gardnerville, NV. The horses reside in a Herd Area adjacent to the Pine Nut Herd Management Area.Learn more about the program here.

AWHC's Deniz Bolbol was in the field from April 23-25 to remotely dart mares with PZPfertility control. She reports:

To date this year, 9 foals have been born. This not only makes those 9 mares non-candidates forfertility control(because they could have already bred back, makingfertility controlefforts futile as PZP is safe and does not negatively affect or abort fetuses), but also complicates efforts to administer PZP because newborn foals are highly guarded by their mothers and families, making the horses difficult to approach. To protect foals - the most vulnerable members of the family - mares are increasingly flighty and less tolerant of humans approaching them. This heightened protectiveness hinders the PZP darter's ability to get close enough to dart.

Our experience in the field this week resulted in the darting of a number of mares and increased our knowledge base about the Fish Springs horses and the necessary ingredients for a successfulfertility controldarting program. We look forward to returning and working closely with theBLMand the local residents to humanely manage these beautiful wild horses.

For more photos from the field click here.

Read the BLM Press Release

Eye Witness Report

Fish Springs Community Tells BLM to Keep Wild Horses Wild

Press Release:

National Coalition Urges BLM to Work with Community to Keep Wild Horses on the Range

Media Coverage:

BLM, community square off over Fish Springs wild horse issue