The developer of Zonastat-H, sometimes referred to as the Montana Solution, never envisioned the ruthlessness of the advocates and their enmity toward wild horses, reflected in their callous disregard for the rules when handling the product.
In the introduction to “Immunocontraceptive Reproductive Control Utilizing Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) in Federal Wild Horse Populations,” a paper published in 2012, he indicated that oversight by The Humane Society of the United States would assure that the vaccine is used only to slow reproduction and would not be used for extermination of entire herds.
He was wrong.
What we see today is the willful destruction of entire herds, with the cooperation of state and federal governments, while the Humane Society looks the other way.
Were you expecting something different from a signatory to the “Path Forward?”
In case you did not know, Zonastat-H is a restricted-use pesticide, not a vaccine, appearing on the same list as noxious chemicals.
The product skews sex ratios in favor of females, the opposite of what’s needed to reverse population growth, so the advocates must ensure that the mares are sterilized, a condition that occurs after five consecutive years of use, as Kirkpatrick warned in his introductory remarks.
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