In the introduction to a 2012 Q&A about PZP, Jay Kirkpatrick of the Billings School of PZP Darting and Public Deception stated that “…oversight by The Humane Society of the United States assures that the vaccine is used only to slow reproduction and may not be used for the extermination of entire herds.”
Further, “PZP is designed to bring about short-term infertility and is reversible, if not used beyond five consecutive years.”
On page 29 he refutes the remarks on page 3: “The HSUS will permit the use of PZP to manage, even reduce, but not to eliminate wild horses.”
Writing about the disaster at Assateague Island, which he did not live to see, “the first sign of population reduction took about eight years, but herd reduction has been moving more quickly since then. The following eight years, herd numbers went down from 175 to 114, without any removal of horses, treating anywhere from 48% to 79% annually.”
If a helicopter took the herd from 175 to 114, 61 horses would be removed and the advocates would be howling, but if it’s done with pesticides, no horses are removed.
Moreover, the job took eight years to complete and eight is greater than five, so most of the mares had been ruined by the time the population hit 114.
This is evident today.
You cannot shrink a population without driving the birth rate to zero, or nearly so, for an extended period, which usually exceeds five years.
Herd reduction leads to sterilization and sterilization leads to extermination, which the Humane Society won’t allow, supposedly.
NOTE: HSUS is now HWA.
RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, One Track Mind Edition.
Western Horse Watchers Association 