Health Canada has given the green light for testing a birth control vaccine on free-roaming horses in Alberta. The Alberta government deems the horse population in certain areas of the province to be at “unacceptable” levels, necessitating measures to prevent them from overgrazing cattle and wildlife habitats.
One of the strategies outlined in Alberta’s feral horse management framework is contraception, alongside removal from the wild and adoption programs for population control. Health Canada confirmed that the province received a “research authorization” for the use of the contraceptive vaccine SpayVac-Equid in late August, emphasizing that this approval is for research purposes only and not for general use.
The Alberta government is currently reviewing the specifics of the approval regarding horse contraception, with a commitment to implementing management actions in a humane and science-based manner. According to the latest feral horse survey, Alberta recorded the highest number of wild horses ever counted this year, with certain zones showing population levels deemed unsustainable.
In a bid to address the wild horse population issue, the province and the Wild Horses of Alberta Society initiated a contraception pilot project in 2014 using a vaccine called ZonaStat-H. However, challenges such as cost and terrain difficulties were encountered during the project, leading to limited success in controlling the population growth.
The new strategy entails capturing horses, administering the vaccine manually, and releasing them back into the wild with markings for identification. This method, utilizing SpayVac-Equid, is reported to have a high success rate and a prolonged contraceptive effect without the need for booster shots. The plan is to launch the contraception project this autumn as part of a comprehensive population control approach, which includes capturing young stallions to limit their presence in the wild.
