Photo taken at RTF’s San Luis Obispo, Calif., satellite sanctuary by Kaitlyn Toay.
The Bureau of Land Management continues a wrongheaded pursuit of surgical sterilization methods like ovariectomy via colpotomy on federally protected wild mares and burro jennies despite public opposition and despite Congress’s bipartisan funding to curb reproduction using on safe, proven and humane methods. Surgical sterilization meets none of those standards.
Attempts to research such surgeries will continue to be met with opposition by the public and lawsuits from advocates that will only serve to delay efforts to move toward humane, sustainable and fiscally responsible management of wild herds on our public lands.
At every turn, Return to Freedom will continue to strongly oppose the agency’s attempts to research and utilize such surgeries, which are dangerous, unproven and costly. Importantly, they are also unnecessary given the ready availability of fertility control with a proven track record.
BLM should focus its efforts on scaling up the use of fertility control as a part of a long-term management plan in order to be able to manage wild horse and burro populations humanely and for the long-term.
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