WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Interior Board of Land Appeals issued an order allowing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to use a fertility control vaccine on wild horses in the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, located in Montana and Wyoming. Two groups opposing the use of humane fertility control had filed a petition to stay the contraception program, and that petition was denied. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the nation's largest animal protection group, had filed an amicus brief in the case, and today applauded the decision as the right thing for horses.

Dr. Andrew Rowan, executive vice president of The HSUS, said, "The Pryor Mountain horses have been saved from helicopter round-ups, which cause stress and harassment of these unique creatures, because the use of birth control is allowed to go forward and keep the numbers in check humanely." 

In 2004, the BLM completed a comprehensive range assessment and determined, due to decreased health of the range's soil and vegetative resources, that the wild horse herd population should be reduced.  Rather than implement helicopter round-ups and removals of the horses, the BLM proposed to administer a Porcine Zona Pelludica (PZP) immunocontraception vaccine on select mares eleven years of age and older in the 2006 breeding season to suppress herd growth rates.  The HSUS supported BLM's decision, endorsing the fertility control program as a more humane and effective method of controlling the population. 

Today, the Board sided with BLM's and The HSUS' positions, finding that "should BLM be unable to proceed as planned, BLM will have no choice but to gather and remove 50-60 excess horses from the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range in 2006."  The Board emphasized, "Clearly, a gather and removal would have a much greater impact on [petitioners'] enjoyment of the wild horses than the proposed action." 

The issues surrounding wild horses on public lands have been extremely controversial. Last December, a Senate rider slipped into an omnibus spending bill allowed wild horses to be sold for slaughter legally for the first time in more than three decades, and dozens of wild horses removed from public lands went to a slaughterhouse earlier this year. The HSUS believes that the use of immunocontraception is a critical tool to manage America's wild horse populations in a humane manner and save them from ending up as dinner entrées in France, Belgium, and other countries. The HSUS has been a leader in horse protection, and just last week helped to pass a Senate amendment, 69-28, to end the slaughter of horses for food exports. An identical amendment passed the House of Representatives, 269-158, in June.

In today's order, the Board agreed that the use of fertility control offers significant benefits to the wild horses, citing to The HSUS' declaration of Dr. Allen T. Rutberg, Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Population Health at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.  Dr. Rutberg, who has extensive experience in immunocontraception vaccine research, stated that "older mares darted with PZP vaccine retain better condition under environmentally stressful conditions, and have a higher life expectancy than mares not treated with PZP vaccine."  He also agreed that the "application of PZP immunocontraception…would reduce the impact of the herd on the range, reduce the likelihood of a BLM gather in subsequent years, reduce the number of horses that would be removed if a gather is conducted, and improve the body condition of PZP-treated horses." 

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization representing more than 9 million members and constituents. The non-profit organization is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals and equine protection, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, animals in research and farm animal welfare. The HSUS protects all animals through education, investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy, and field work. The HSUS and The Fund for Animals joined forces and combined their operations in January 2005. The group is based in Washington and has numerous field representatives across the country.  On the web at www.hsus.org.