BLM unveils dart-injection birth-control plan for Utah horses

Later this month, the Bureau of Land Management will begin administering contraceptives to free-roaming mares in Tooele County, this time using dart guns to avoid rounding up these wild horses. Horse proliferation across the Western range is among the most vexing challenges facing the federal land agency, which is obligated under federal law to both protect the animals but also ensure forage remains available for public-lands grazers. Contraception is viewed as a promising alternative to the usual practice of rounding up excess horses, which has largely been panned as a costly failure. Few horses are adopted and thousands will spend the remainder of their lives in corrals. Meanwhile, free-roaming horse populations grow, putting pressure on a range already depleted by drought and cattle. In a decision released Friday, BLM's Utah office will administer the contraceptive Porcine Zona Pellucida, or PZP, with darts to mares roaming the Onaqui Mountain Herd Management Area, a 207,000-acre patch of public land 60 miles southwest of Tooele. It currently is home to 317 wild horses, far above what BLM has determined to be an "appropriate management level."...more