Prayers Needed for Wild Horses Today

America’s wild horses and burros are at great risk right now.

Please join us Tuesday April 25 at noon (California Time) to #pray for the safety, protection and freedom of America’s wild horses and burros.

Lobbyists are in Washington greasing palms to get what they want: slaughter, killing, pesticides for birth control and sterilization for extinction. This is not what the public wants. We love our wild horses and burros. We want them protected and forever free.

Truck in the pens (© Anne Novak, All rights reserved)

Sign and share the petition demanding a headcount and congressional investigation: https://www.change.org/p/u-s-senate-investigate-the-wild-horse-burro-count-in-captivity-and-freedom This will help stop trafficking wild horses to slaughter and extinction!

There is a lot going on behind the scenes now in Washington. This petition is making an impact. It’s time for us to let more people know about the fake inventory before more roundups, experiments, sales, etc. are allowed to destroy the last wild herds in America.

Together we can turn this around. Thank you and bless you.

With Gratitude,
Anne Novak

Founder & Executive Director
www.ProtectMustangs.org

© Anne Novak, all rights reserved.

Protect Mustangs is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of native and wild horses. www.ProtectMustangs.org



Stop the Cruel Experiments on Adobe Queen and Others!

Screenshot of EXPERIMENTS on wild mares

Abuse and harassment

$11.5 million tax dollars are being given away to experiment on America’s last wild horses and burros based on a lie. The truth is free roaming wild horses are under-populated and there never has been an accurate headcount–only lies to get tax dollars.

You can see Adobe Queen (https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs/videos/1395669043825444/?pnref=story) is being harassed by forcing a tracking collar on her. Collars might cause death when the collars get tight.

The 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act forbids harassing wild horses but the feds are doing it anyway. The Bureau of Land Management wants to track ‘Adobe Queen’ down to uncover the Adobe Town herd’s hiding places in the Wyoming desert so they can kill them or round them up and later sell them to slaughterhouse buyers as discussed on June 22, 2016 in the House Committee on Wild Horses and Burros.

Take action by sharing the Change.org petition (https://www.change.org/p/u-s-senate-investigate-the-wild-horse-burro-count-in-captivity-and-freedom/u/19841144) by email to everyone you know so we can STOP the cruelty!

Sign up for the Thunderclap: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/54922-expose-mustangs-2-slaughter to get this petition out there!

For more information go to www.ProtectMustangs.org and type the word “experiments” in the search bar.

For the Wild Ones,
Anne Novak

Executive Director
www.ProtectMustangs.org
Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of native and wild horses. www.ProtectMustangs.org



Expose BLM’s backdoor to slaughter!

How many are left?

When I first heard about wild horses in the Pryor Mountains being brutally rounded up in 2009, Nevada was home to 80% of America’s federally protected wild horses. Wyoming was the next state who had the most wild horses and California only had a few herds left.

Today Nevada has only about 50% of America’s wild horses and I believe California now has the second largest population. In Wyoming, the feds are proposing to remove another 1,029 wild horses. One of their former congresswomen even wanted to kill them!

The Department of Interior is giving away grants for university students in Wyoming to cruelly collar mares from the Adobe Town herd. They want to find out where they hide in the desert. Then the agency in charge of protecting them can find them and wipe out the ancient Adobe Town mustangs too.

Invasive cruelty against America’s wild horses must stop. The law states they are to be left alone and not be abused. How dare they collar wild horses! This harassment will cause deaths and these deaths will be hidden. . . Hidden like the others.

The deception continues. People who once spoke out against mustang cruelty back in 2009 are now mute because they are playing a political game to get what they want. I’m disgusted and will never sell out. Never.

In 8 years of roundups, experiments, removals, pesticides for “birth control”, 3-Strikes to sell truckloads for slaughter and taxpayer-funded propaganda campaigns, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has decimated America’s wild herds on public land. Now wild horses are in danger of dying out because they lack genetic diversity, population and strength. Natural selection is being ruined by the “one foal” on the range breeding programs run by Pesticide PZP darters in partnership with BLM. Remember Pesticide PZP sterilizes wild horses after multiple use. Yes sterilizes. The public is fooled by those trusted to manage the last American wild horses and their nonprofit partners peddling for donations to “help” them.

Overpopulation is a lie. Population control is based on a false premise that wild horses are “pests”. Follow the money behind population control experiments and the donation cash cow for the nonprofit who claims they solved the wild horse “problem”.

Know the truth: Wild horses are native wildlife, period. Cattle and sheep are not.

Right now we are witnessing a wild horse and burro underpopulation crisis in the West. This is our last chance to help America’s wild horses and burros survive the ugly greed wiping out our herds. It’s time to expose the overpopulation lies. It’s time to expose all the trucks sneaking wild stallions to slaughter over the borders. . . expose the lies that there are “too many” wild horses on public land. Count them.

The truth must be exposed by your elected officials now before it’s too late.

I urge you to sign and share the petition to investigate the wild horse and burro count in captivity and freedom: https://www.change.org/p/u-s-senate-investigate-the-wild-horse-burro-count-in-captivity-and-freedom Join us to double the numbers on the petition in the next 7 days!

America won’t be the same without our iconic wild symbols of liberty running freely on public land . . . The wild herds are to be protected by the law–but because of the greed for resources (oil, gas, livestock grazing, etc.) the law is being twisted, lies are spread in the media and spoon-fed to your elected officials acting on your behalf.

It’s time to know how many wild horses and burros are really left so we can all stand up to protect them.

Prayers and miracles are needed right now. Please contact me if you can help with a lawsuit to save America’s last wild horses and burros.

For the Wild Ones,
Anne Novak
Volunteer Executive Director
Protect Mustangs

Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of native and wild horses. www.ProtectMustangs.org



Brutal experiments continue on pregnant wild horses!

Did you know that right now the Bureau of Land Management, under the Department of Interior is still funding cruel experiments on wild pregnant mares for population control?

Keep in mind that the National Academy of Sciences Report from 2013 stated there is “no evidence” of overpopulation. It’s the end of 2016 and there is still no evidence of alleged overpopulation and the thugs in control won’t do a headcount. They just want to keep abusing innocent wild horses and burros who should be living in freedom. Sickos!

The brutal tubal ligation research on pregnant wild mares in Oregon was stopped due to public outrage but that’s it. All the other tax-payer funded experiments on pregnant wild mares continue. They are cruelly experimenting on them now! Did you realize that?

The Department of Interior is giving away grants totaling up to 11 million dollars for population control experiments–on pregnant wild mares. Are these experiments causing pain and suffering and do they violate the rights of wild horses and burros to live free? Yes. This a wicked violation against their freedom.

So while everyone was distracted by real threats of killing and slaughtering wild horses, the brutal Nazi-like experiments–mostly with injections–continue . . .

America’s last wild horses should never be used as “lab animals”. Never. How is this even legal to experiment on federally protected wild horses?

Wild horses have been cruelly subjected to experimentation for decades. This cruelty has been going on for so long that the Bureau of Land Management and their supporters think this is “normal”. Experimentation on federally protected wild horses must be against the law but there is so much corruption within wild horse and animal advocacy that no one is stopping this! Those organizations who support using Pesticide PZP as birth control will not fight against experimenting on wild horses because they are still involved with PZP experiments or receive funding from those that are.

2017 is the time to fight back the evil cruelty inflicted upon America’s innocent and voiceless wild horses and burros! They should be protected from experimentation, protected from being sold to slaughter, protected from being killed and protected to live freely in the wild.

We’d like to protect wild horses from this abuse. Will you join us?

 

For the Wild Ones,

Anne Novak

Volunteer Executive Director

www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of native and wild horses. www.ProtectMustangs.org




Secret documents from 2008 reveal plan to kill and dispose of America’s wild horses and burros

© 2014 Anne Novak, all rights reserved.

© 2014 Anne Novak, all rights reserved.

 The Bureau of Land Management plots to wipe out wild horses and burros at taxpayer expense.  Is this how you want your tax dollars used?

“Jim says Burns takes them to a pit but they have always used it  . . .”

Notice that Pesticide PZP, made from slaughterhouse pig ovaries, is part of their wipe out plan. It sterilizes after multiple use. Their goal is zero population increase which would ruin natural selection and make it impossible for the species to survive climate change.

Members of the public and some organizations have been fooled into supporting Pesticide PZP as the “lesser of two evils”. Those who believe in the true spirit of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 are attacked for speaking out against Pesticide PZP.

Follow the money if you want to understand who profits from forcibly drugging wild mares with Pesticide PZP for population control. . .

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is the registrant of Pesticide PZP https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/pending/fs_PC-176603_01-Jan-12.pdf. HSUS called native wild horses and burros “PESTS” on the EPA Pesticide Application. Have they changed the legal definition of wild horses and burros with the EPA application that should be revoked?

Scott Beckstead, who was born and raised on a working cattle ranch and now works for HSUS, reported at the BoLM’s Spring 2016 Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting that HSUS is experimenting on a stronger form of Pesticide PZP. Does “stronger” mean their new form of Pesticide PZP will forcibly sterilize native wild horses and burros with one injection?

Wild horses and burros are underpopulated on public land which is overpopulated by beef cattle and sheep. Ranchers, BoLM and others try to scapegoat wild horses and burros for range damage when the truth is commercial livestock is destroying, or already has destroyed, the ecosystem.

July 29, 2008

pm-blm-killing-conference-call-page-1-2008

 

pm-blm-killing-conference-call-page-2-2008

 

pm-blm-killing-conference-call-page-3-2008

 

pm-blm-killing-conference-call-page-4-2008

 

pm-blm-killing-conference-call-page-5-2008

 

“GonaCon® is also a product that needs to be relooked at for sterilization of mares.” (Quoted from item 4 above)

Read about the GonaCon® experiment at Water Canyon that launched in 2015: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=8488 They have hopes to use GonaCon™ on the whole Antelope Complex.

 

pm-blm-killing-conference-call-page-6-2008

August 12, 2008

pm-blm-killing-conference-call-page-1-aug-12-2008

 

pm-blm-killing-conference-call-page-2-august-12-2008

 

pm-blm-killing-conference-call-page-3-aug-12-2008

 

pm-blm-killing-conference-call-page-4-august-12-2008

 

PM Aerial Photo 6

Thanks to Jane Cheuvront for the Google Earth photo)

Read our August 11th blog post: What’s in the mounds, craters and pits at American wild horse holding facilities? http://protectmustangs.org/?p=9458

See all the notes from the secret conference calls in 2008 about killing off America’s wild horses and burros: pm-blm-secret-killing-conference-calls-2008

 

pm-blm-secret-killing-alternative-draft-plan

Special thanks to Dr. Patricia Haight, RIP, with the Conquistador Equine Rescue for acquiring the documents through FOIA.

See the draft of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program Alternative Management Options from October 2008 the result of the secret conference calls: pm-blm-killing-plans

pm-whb-advisory-board-a-september-9-2016

(Fred T. Woehl, Jr. and Sue McDonnell, PhD. for Wild Horse & Burro Research are some of the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board members, who voted on September 9, 2016, to kill the alleged “unadoptable” wild horses and burros)

 

Protect Mustangs is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of native and wild horses. www.ProtectMustangs.org




Federal agency provides shade at adoption event so why not at corrals? #Shade4Mustangs

The Bureau of Land Management (BoLM) is providing shade for the captive wild horses up for adoption at the Wyoming State Fair this weekend.

PM Shade WYO State Fair

It’s time for the Wild Horse and Burro Program to follow their own example.

We would like to see the federal agency, who rakes in more than $4 billion a year in receipts, provide shade and shelter for all the captive wild horses in holding facilities. More than 43,500 people have signed our petition for shade and shelter (http://chn.ge/1DriOvN).

On June 9, 2013 Nevada State Senator Mark Manendo and Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs officially requested shade for the wild horses and burros at Palomino Valley Center, near Reno and elsewhere to ensure the welfare of these treasured equids. Their request for shade was refused and the sprinkler mitigation offered was unsuccessful because shelter is needed.

Now it is the summer of 2016 and due to public pressure some facilities are taking baby steps and some are conducting trials but it’s not enough. America’s captive icons of freedom deserve shade now!

PM Shade Structures mustangs PVC #Shade4Mustangs

The BoLM partnered with UC Davis for an expensive shade study that determined wild horses don’t need shade when they are in the corrals. It’s obvious they like having access to shade and use it as seen in the photo taken at Palomino Valley Center last week. The BoLM continues to conduct various shade trials while the years fly by and the wild ones suffer. Please sign and share the petition (http://chn.ge/1DriOvN) to get the BoLM to stop dragging their feet and do the right thing before more wild horses die.

Send this blog post to your congressional representative and two senators so they can get this done for the captives in the pens with no voice.

Protect Mustangs is a nonprofit organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.




Roundups for research: Animal cruelty funded by tax dollars

PM Roundups for research Meme FB

How did the little burros die in Utah?

Is this how you want your tax dollars used?

While looking through the Bureau of Land Management’s 2016 tentative roundup schedule we noticed that several wild horse and burro roundups in Utah are for “research’. Some wild horses in Utah are being forced to wear hazardous radio collars around their necks so the BoLM can study herd migration, etc. This should be illegal according to the 1971 Protection Act but the BoLM, represented by the Department of Justice in court, is getting away with atrocities. Utah is a very corrupt state with strict Ag-gag laws and biased judges in federal court. We witnessed that firsthand when Protect Mustangs and Friends of Animals tried to stop the Sulphur Roundup in 2015. It seemed like the federal judge was part of the BoLM club.

This is what we saw on the roundup schedule:

PM Roundups for research 1

and

PM Roundups for Research 2

So how did the burros die?

PM BLM Investigating Burro Deaths Utah

 

Protect Mustangs is an organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.




BoLM Utah Press Release about their proposed wild horse and burro research

574px-Blm.svg

 Protect Mustangs is against cruel research on wild horses and burros. Population ecology can be done through noninvasive observation of the herds without harassing the wild horses and burros with roundups and radio collars. The BoLM is either too lazy to do this or just enjoys torturing our icons of freedom to “experiment” on them. Wild horses and burros need to be left alone, period.

Here is one research proposal surely there are others: http://on.doi.gov/2aF2iCb

The following is from a BoLM press release:

Salt Lake City, Utah—Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Utah Wild Horse and Burro Program will be working collaboratively with scientists at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Fort Collins Science Center to conduct several wild horse and burro research projects. The research is being done partly in response to the 2013 National Academies of Science (NAS) report that recommended science-based management of free-roaming equids within the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program.
The NAS report recommended acquiring population ecology information on wild burros to better understand their demographic parameters and improve their management, since there is remarkably little published literature on wild burros. Two research proposals include the Sinbad wild burro Herd Management Area (HMA) managed by the Price Field Office. The first study, which has been approved, would test population survey techniques for burros and identify and develop new techniques that can be applied across wild burro ranges of western rangelands. The second proposed study would study the demography of free-roaming burros to provide data for population modeling, to improve management of wild burros, and to contribute to a better understanding of the ecology of wild burros.
The NAS report also recommended research be done on wild horse demography and ecology, and highlighted the utility of statistical models for improved management. Studies to support this approach are being proposed for the Frisco HMA, managed by Cedar City Field Office, and the Conger HMA, managed by Fillmore Field Office. Specific questions approved in the research for the Conger HMA include quantifying the impacts of sterilizing a portion of male horses in the population and how treatment impacts their behavior and ecology.
Research on both wild horse and wild burro HMAs may include looking at the fertility, fecundity (reproductive rate), recruitment rate, age-specific survival and mortality, habitat selection, movements, habitat range; and their behavior and ecology at the scale of both the individual and population levels. We expect these studies to support and contribute to the management of wild horses and burros.
Price, Cedar City, and Fillmore Field Offices have begun initiating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis of the research proposals. The public review and scoping period for these proposals are anticipated to begin early in the fall of 2015.

To learn more about the program, visit the BLM National Wild Horse and Burro website at www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov. 

Follow us on Twitter @BLMUtah

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s mission is to manage and conserve the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations under our mandate of multiple-use and sustained yield. In fiscal year 2014, the BLM generated $5.2 billion in receipts from public lands.
–BLM–Utah State Office   440 West 200 South, Suite 500      Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

 

Protect Mustangs is an organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.




#URGENT: File a complaint against Nazi-like population control experiments on America’s wild horses!

The clock is ticking. Oregon State University isn’t stopping. They are going ahead with their Nazi-like population control experiments on wild mares and a lot of them are pregnant! The experiments were encouraged by a bunch of sick pro-slaughter, pro-cattle activists that work in darkness to bring the “final solutions” to America’s underpopulated wild horses and burros. These people have no soul. They have no empathy for the suffering these horrible experiments will inflict on WILD horses . . . wild animals . . . wildlife . . . that the law was supposed to protect.

Take action right now and fill out this Animal Welfare Complaint: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalwelfare/complaint-form. Mention that the procedures used to sterilize wild horses in the experiments at Oregon State University and elsewhere are cruel. Let them know that wild horses are underpopulated and the basis for these heinous experiments is false. Underpopulated wild horses and burros in America don’t need population control or birth control.

America’s wild horses and burros need your help to live and survive on public land set aside for them in 1971–the public sanctuary that is open 24/7 at no charge. The wild ones need YOU to go to your elected officials’ home offices and push for their protection.

Please also send an email to your congressman/woman and your 2 senators. Their contact information is here: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ Short handwritten letters have the most impact as elected officials see them representing the opinion of 1000 voters.

Ignore anyone who says birth control is a tool in the stupid toolbox. Who’s toolbox are they talking about?

Ignore the spin doctors claiming they are overpopulated. It’s a lie.

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BoLM) claim there are 67,000 wild horses and burros combined in all western states is based on no more than an inflated guess. The BoLM have no headcount and no evidence according to the National Academy of Sciences. Even if there were 67,000 wild horses and burros left in the wild that would be too few to survive serious changes in climate, disease and environmental disaster. Do you want to see our majestic symbols of freedom and the American spirit become extinct forever? No you don’t, so take action. Your voice counts.

Don’t get distracted from the facts:

America’s wild horses and burros are being wiped off public land because greedy people and corporations with no conscious want to exploit the wild ones’ territory for profit–big profit. These people who are out for big money need to find the win-win, respect the environment and learn to work with–not annihilate–the last free roaming wild horses and burros. After all, wild horses prevent wildfires that could hurt their money making projects (oil and gas wells, solar energy zones, mining, etc.) These people should realize cattle will never roam like wild horses do and therefore cannot replace the wild herds for fire prevention.

Stop BLM from EXPERIMENTING on wild mares!

Tell your friends, family, co-workers and neighbors what’s going on and tune into our website daily for updates on the fight to save America’s wild horses! www.ProtectMustangs.org There are a lot of ways you can help by using your voice right from your computer. If we all don’t do something now then hundreds of wild horses will be cruelly carved up in Nazi-like population control experiments to rid the land of wild horses. Our beloved wild ones have been wrongfully labelled “pests” in the Pesticide PZP EPA application. Also based on the overpopulation lie, thousands of wild horses could end up at slaughter soon if they are not all accounted for and placed in safe homes.

Your elected officials need to be contacted regularly by email, handwritten letters and in meetings to stop the abuse against wild horses and keep them living in real freedom. . . in the wild.

It’s time to send an email requesting an appointment to get your elected officials involved in protecting America’s iconic wild horses and burros. Yes really protect them–not forcibly drug them with Pesticide PZP or sterilize them.

Do you realize YOUR voices in government have been fed a bunch of lies based on a false premise from other elected officials, lobbyists and traitor “advocates” as well? Follow the money . . . Then move beyond that to real “solutions” to protect real freedom. Make your voice heard.

From the Team at Protect Mustangs
www.ProtectMustangs.org

a member for the Alliance for Wild Horses and Burros

Protect Mustangs is an organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.




Despite underpopulation, does OSU have the right to experiment on federally protected wild horses and burros or are they breaking the law?

 Is Oregon State University about to embark it their biggest PR nightmare?

Vet Spaying Wild Mare at Sheldon Wildlife Refuge

 

© EquineClinic.comn shared for educational purposes

© EquineClinic.comn shared for educational purposes

Oregon State University published the Q & A below based on the false premise, when the truth is wild horses are underpopulated in America today:

 

Frequently asked questions: OSU fertility research involving wild mares and burros

I understand that Oregon State University is involved in research on wild horses and burros.  Is this true?

Yes. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) awarded Oregon State University money to help study fertility-control methods for wild horses and burros.

In 2014, the BLM asked for research proposals from a variety of scientific groups across the nation to help address the high population growth rates of wild horses and burros, including veterinarians, scientists, universities, pharmaceutical companies, and other research entities.  Additional details can be found here.  Since then, the BLM has provided awards to support over 20 projects.

Five universities with college of veterinary medicine programs received awards. Proposals from OSU were selected based on the quality of science, the expertise of the research investigator and the potential impact of the research. Oregon State University faculty were among those that submitted proposals to the BLM to help slow and stabilize the population growth rate of wild horses and burros. The BLM announced its decision on June 27 to proceed with the research to be conducted by Oregon State faculty. Details of that announcement can be found here.

How is Oregon State University involved?

As a research university, Oregon State conducts studies on important topics, and informs public policy-makers and the general public of those research findings.

This research will evaluate minimally invasive, humane, effective, and permanent procedures that would then be reviewed by the BLM as options to maintain sustainable herd levels.

Our role is in conducting research to inform BLM policy. Oregon State University’s role is not to develop policy.

Why did BLM decide that this type of research was necessary?

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) developed the program after receiving a report with recommendations from a National Academy of Sciences committee, which had been tasked with performing a complete review of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Management Program.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) published a video summary of that report, “Using Science to Improve the Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward”.

The NAS reports that the population of wild horses and burros is growing beyond the capacity of federal lands to support the health and welfare of these animals. Animals that are not healthy are susceptible to further suffering from disease, malnutrition, dehydration, and death. The BLM is reviewing a range of options to manage the population of these horses and burros at sustainable levels.

What did the National Academy of Sciences committee find?

The NAS committee emphasized that, on average, the population of wild horses and burros across the west is increasing by 15 – 20% per year, despite ongoing fertility control vaccination programs. The NAS urged the BLM to make wider use of fertility control options that are based on rigorous research.

Why would wild horse and burro populations be a concern? 

The population of wild horses and burros on federal lands is growing beyond the capacity of local, state, and federal resources to support the health and welfare of these animals, and maintain healthy range ecosystems.

An illustrated summary of BLM concerns and challenges related to our nation’s wild horses and burros can be found here. 

What does Oregon State University have to offer?

OSU faculty who responded to the BLM’s request for additional research felt very strongly that their contributions would benefit and improve the health and welfare of our wild horses and burros.

As a land-grant institution, Oregon State University faculty members often have the expertise needed to address issues that affect Oregon and the nation.

Results from this work will be analyzed and published in peer-reviewed forums, in addition to informing the BLM.  In this way, the work performed by OSU faculty will be available to the public.

For more information about how research is conducted at Oregon State University and academic freedom, please click here. 

How is animal safety and humane care ensured during research?

University-wide commitment to animal care, safety, and welfare is a top priority. Oregon State University recognizes both the importance of animals in research and teaching, and the scientific and ethical responsibilities inherent in the care of those animals.  Research activities undertaken by OSU faculty, staff, and students are reviewed and conducted in accordance with strict ethical principles, federal and state laws and regulations, and in compliance with Oregon State institutional policies.

Oversight of animal activities associated with OSU is provided by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). The IACUC’s main functions are to review, approve, and monitor research protocols, and ensure that animals are cared for according to all applicable federal and state laws, regulations, and Oregon State institutional policies.

Oregon State University additionally volunteers to have their animal program reviewed every three years by AAALAC, International, an independent accreditation agency for animal research programs. The accreditation process is very stringent and institutions with AAALAC accreditation are known for their commitment to excellence and humane animal care.

What methods are being studied in this research?

One study will evaluate the removal of both ovaries without the need for any external skin incisions (ovariectomy via colpotomy). Ovariectomies are commonly used by veterinarians to stop egg production and related reproductive (“heat”) cycles in animals.

Another study will evaluate two surgical methods that will interrupt fertilization.  Animals undergoing these procedures will still have heat cycles but they will not conceive.  Tubal ligation is one method, and the other is oviduct ablation.  The use of these methods also avoids the need for external skin incisions.

I have concerns about the management of our nation’s wild horses and burros, and I don’t think Oregon State University should be involved.

As a research institution, work at Oregon State sometimes involves controversial issues.  In this case, research team members have offered their areas of expertise in designing a study whose results will be used to inform policy decisions by the BLM in the management of wild horse and burro populations.

Research data provided by Oregon State researchers will be part of the larger group of studies that BLM will consider as it reviews policies and procedures to respond to the 2013 NAS report.

More information on BLM management of wild horses and burros can be found here.

Who will perform this research?

The studies will be conducted by teams of licensed, highly qualified and experienced veterinary surgeons.

Are Oregon State students involved in this research?

No.  Students are not involved in these projects.

When was this proposal submitted?

Proposals were submitted to the BLM in 2014. 

How long will this research take to be completed?

The research will take place over the next two – five years.

How much will be spent on this research? Who will fund this proposed research?

The BLM has approved two grants to OSU totaling $348,000.

Where will this research be conducted?

The research will be conducted at the BLM’s wild horse and burro facility in Hines, OR. 

How and with whom will these research findings be shared with?

Oregon State researchers will report their results to the BLM; will publish findings in other peer-reviewed forums and share the results with the public.

Who decides to accept or reject these findings? Or implement them as a standard of future practice?

The BLM will make any decisions on future policies and practices. For more information click here.

Cross-posted for discussion from: http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/blm-research-faq

Stay tuned for the backlash

PM Lennox meme

Protect Mustangs is an organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.