Hello and Happy Tuesday!
Thank you to everyone for letting us know that you found our series on GonaCon educational and informative. We appreciate the feedback.
Once again, for your own reference, we do recommend watching the following videos:
We had a Horse Talk with Dr. Dan Baker in 2023 – this is an extremely insightful talk: https://youtu.be/kdLHvgVmIuw
In January, Ginger Fedak spoke at our virtual summit and shared scientific data about GonaCon and PZP: https://youtu.be/H0iigWwM9WE
Lastly, there is a video recording from a fertility conference that Dr. Dan Baker spoke at. You can view this in our Resource Library here: https://chwha.org/library/
You can also learn more about GonaCon on our website: https://chwha.org/gonacon/ We will continue adding to the GonaCon stories until every female horse in the park has been added to the page.
As I stated in the very beginning of this series, as wild horse advocates, we likely will not always get everything we want. I can tell you that there will never be a scenario where TRNP park management will agree to NOT use any form of fertility control on these horses. We are talking about 200 wild horses in a fenced national park that encompasses 46,158.57 acres of fenced public land. That park also is home to bison, elk, deer, coyotes, prairie dogs, along with a host of other mammals, several different reptiles and birds as well as plant life. We also respect that managing these horses specifically as well as the park as a whole is a challenge that none of us can begin to understand.
What Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates is asking for is that any fertility control that is used, be used RESPONSIBLY.
We do not believe that is currently happening in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
There are other herds managed by the BLM that will only use GonaCon on mares over the age of 15 who have contributed to the genetics of the herd or mares who are non- responders to PZP.
That is something we could live with.
Why?
I was speaking with an advocate friend the other day and she said it perfectly: GonaCon is an under researched product.
When the initial experiment happened, mares who were hand injected in 2009 and hand injected again in 2013 showed the best efficacy for GonaCon than any other group. Dr. Dan Baker, in his Horse Talk with us, said no matter what they tried, they could not replicate the efficacy of the hand injected mares.
Another thing to note, Ginger Fedak, who we also reference above, has a scientific background and was a Colorado resident during the GonaCon experiment at CSU. During the 11 years of the experiment, there were several public meetings at CSU giving information and updates about the experiment happening in TRNP on our horses. This gives her knowledge of GonaCon a different twist, as I have not yet met anyone else who attended these meetings.
By the time the experiment was over in 2020, we know that 19 of the 24 mares that were still alive in 2020 had never returned to fertility. This meant that they were INFERTILE.
We also know from FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) documents obtained by AWHC and from our Horse Talk with Dr. Baker himself, that he wanted the experiment to continue if only to be able to monitor those 19 horses and see IF they ever returned to fertility. The park would not allow it. Dr. Baker even asked to take possession of those mares and bring them back to CSU. The park denied that request as well.
Those mares have since been treated with GonaCon, many mares have received several additional doses. The 11 years of research have left a HUGE question: Does GonaCon cause permanent sterility?
Dr. Jenny Powers, was Dr. Baker’s right hand during the experiment and coincidentally was also an employee of the NPS during the GonaCon experiment. In the Civic Engagement meeting hosted by Theodore Roosevelt National Park on 3/30/2022, the question was asked: “Is there actual proof to the public that any of the horses have been in any way sterilized by the GonaCon?”
Dr. Jenny Powers was asked to respond to this question, which she did rather eloquently:
“Good question. We do have a couple of published papers showing that GonaCon is reversible, meaning that animals return to fertility post vaccination. However, with any individual animal it is possible that they could be permanently sterilized, and it is unknown at this time if our current herd has sterilized individuals or not. We’d have to play out the rest of their reproductive lives to know that.”
I would like to state that GonaCon rendered Mare Flicka, Mare Tanker and Mare Molly STERILE, by Dr. Jenny Powers’ own definition, as they were ALL treated with GonaCon, via hand injection in 2009 and 2013, all have now reached the end of their reproductive lives and never returned to fertility after their second injection in 2013 before they died.
You can read the entire transcript from the Civic Engagement meeting here:
There are a number of mares who have NOT yet lived out their reproductive lives that we believe to be INFERTILE. As Dr. Powers stated, we can only say they were sterilized by GonaCon once they die, like Mares Flicka, Tanker and Molly. We expect many more mares to be found STERILE as they come to the end of their reproductive lives.
The other problem with GonaCon is the radical way our government agencies use this drug. The BIG selling point of GonaCon was that it gave long term fertility control. This was an appealing selling point to wildlife managers all across the US. PZP has to be administered every year. GonaCon was suppose to save time and money.
BLM protocol is to give captured mares GonaCon when they are captured and any being returned to the range a second dose 30 days later. In Theodore Roosevelt National Park specifically, we can see by records released by the park that most of the mares are given back-to-back doses YEARLY. They KNOW that 2 doses give the drug a greater efficacy, BUT as Dr. Baker stated in his talk with us, there is NO DATA TO SUPPORT SUCH AGGRESSIVE USE OF THE DRUG.
GonaCon is also SUPPPOSED to provide 4 years of fertility control. If that is true, then there would be NO REASON to dart mares every year. The BLM seems to agree that GonaCon has longer term effectiveness as well as the chance for permanent sterility as you can see in the image below that was taken from a BLM slide presentation in 2022.
TRNP park management KNOW that 2 doses of GonaCon – as given via hand injection in 2009 and 2013 was effective on the TRNP herd. What was NOT effective is that from 2009 until they received their 2nd dose in 2013, most mares foaled. When asked why they would continue using GonaCon in 2025 after being so aggressive in 2024 when all but 2 mares and 5 fillies born that year received GonaCon, Dr. Blake McCann stated to us in a personal meeting that they were trying to “halt the reproduction of this herd”.
There was no timeline given for this, BUT wiping out entire age classes is something that the BLM range specialist Milton Frei warned about in 1978 when he visited the herd and something Dr. Baker talks about as a danger in our Horse Talk with him in 2023.
Between the lack of transparency from our government agencies, the aggressive use of GonaCon with no data to support the agencies actions, and how under researched GonaCon is, wild horse advocates are understandably concerned about the long-term impacts of GonaCon on our wild horses.
Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates is working hard to make sure that ANY fertility control used on the TRNP herd is used RESPONSIBLY. We hope to have some updates on our work soon!
What you can do – as always, reach out to your elected officials. It is so critical that you establish a relationship with your members of Congress.
You can also send an email to TRNP park management asking that they stop the use of GonaCon on this herd. You can take this one click action here: https://secure.everyaction.com/7exTfk62vU6c0On_NDNIfA2
All the blogs in this series can be found on the homepage of our website at www.chwha.org
Thank you again for your continued support and have a great day!
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