A group of mares treated with fertility control run off toward the hills after being released onto the Sand Wash Basin Herd Management Are in September 2021. Photo by Meg Frederick.
The Bureau of Land Management plans to release 97 mares treated with fertility control back onto the Calico Complex in Nevada on or about Monday, Dec. 4.
The release of the mares (alongside 145 stallions, already turned back out) onto their home range is noteworthy. That’s because the greater the percentage of mares treated, the lower the chance that the BLM will believe it is required to return and remove more horses from that Herd Management Area.
The mares were among 489 wild horses captured in a recent helicopter roundup. Most of the horses were shipped to holding corrals to be prepped for possible adoption or sale.
Return to Freedom strongly supports the use of proven, safe, humane and reversible fertility control as a key tool to reduce the frequency and size of removals and replace them with minimally intrusive, on-range management.
For real change to come to our public lands, applying fertility control must be more than a token effort.
Our ultimate goal remains finally ending BLM’s decades-long use of capture and removal as its primary management tool.
It’s that failed system that resulted in the Calico herds being chased by a helicopter into a trap site, sorted and divided by age and gender, with family bands tragically torn apart forever.
Nevertheless, seeing a greater percentage of wild horses being released instead of ending up in crowded, costly corral facilities marks a much-needed step in a better direction.
It’s important to note that the BLM treated the mares with GonaCon. Return to Freedom prefers the use of PZP.
PZP has been studied and proven safe, effective, and humane over the longest period of time and in the greatest number of horses, including, importantly, the greatest number of horses in free-roaming situations.