Saving horses in the West and its connection to elephants in Africa

By Amy Joi O'Donoghue, Deseret News

January 2, 2021

SALT LAKE CITY — A successful, intense program in Nevada involving wild horses could help refine the science of fertility control in additional wild horse populations as well other species like elephants in Africa.

Spaying wild horses: Why some animal advocates decry a Utah plan

By Amy Joi O'Donoghue, Deseret News

December 12, 2020

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal effort to permanently remove 480 wild horses from western Utah also includes a plan to surgically sterilize more than a dozen mares that will be returned to the range.

The procedure, which has never been performed before on wild horses under the purview of the Bureau of Land Management, was done on mares occupying a national wildlife refuge in Nevada with success, federal officials say.

Nevada senators join push to fund wild horse contraception

By Nevada Appeal

November 27, 2020

Nevada’s U.S. Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto have joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers urging the inclusion of funding to provide contraception to control the growth of wild horse herds.

Nearly half the nation’s wild horses are in Nevada.

The lawmakers led by Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., argued the BLM’s use of mass roundups to remove horses is a failed system that has resulted in some 48,000 of the animals being held in short or long term corrals across the nation.

I-Team Examining methods to control wild horse population

By Vanessa Murphy, 8 News Now Las Vegas

April 27, 2020

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Wild horses are a symbol of the West, but many agree the population needs to be controlled for the well-being of both the animals and the land. 

One program to help control the population has marked its first anniversary. Some hope it can replace a controversial method used by the federal government. 

Volunteers work to reduce wild horse population

By Jeniffer Solis, Nevada Current

April 16, 2020

A group of volunteers in Northern Nevada are taking refuge amidst the coronavirus pandemic in the great outdoors while providing a much needed service.  

What are they doing? Darting wild horses with birth control.

AWHC Position on the Use of GonaCon as a Management Tool for Wild Horses

January 15, 2024: 

AWHC’s Internal Science Committee has conducted an extensive review and analysis of the scientific literature on the use of the GonaCon immunocontraceptive vaccine in wild horses and burros. 

Nevada Model Could Reform Cruel and Costly Federal Wild Horse and Burro Program

The Humane Fertility Control Program Shapes the Future of Wild Horse Conservation

(Reno, Nev.) – Today, the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) released the results of its fourth annual report for the Virginia Range Horse Fertility Control Program, conducted just outside Reno, Nevada and in partnership with the Nevada Department of Agriculture.

FOIA Records Raise Questions of Sterility of Theodore Roosevelt Mares

By Mary Koncel, Project Coordinator 

(April 14, 2023) The Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) is located in the badlands of North Dakota.  Besides being home to almost 200 wild horses who have roamed this rugged landscape for hundreds of years, it has also been used as a laboratory for research on GonaCon as a fertility control for over a decade.

Volunteer Spotlight: Chuck Statton

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This month we asked Chuck Statton some questions about the many, many ways he volunteers his time for the Virginia Range horses. Here's what he had to say! 

National late night talk show shines spotlight on Reno wild horse fertility control program

Full Frontal’s Samantha Bee visits Nevada’s Virginia Range to show how we can easily protect horses and save taxpayers money, despite the U.S. Government’s efforts to do otherwise