NM wild horses get contraceptive shots

AP - April 10, 2009 4:25 PM ET

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A handful of wild horses on the Carson National Forest have become the first mustangs injected with a contraceptive by the U.S. Forest Service as another method for controlling herd sizes.

Karen Herman pushed a long metal tube to the hindquarter of 1 of the colorful mares to inject the birth control last week.

The mares are among the estimated 400 wild horses that roam 76,000 acres of the Jicarilla Ranger District in northwestern New Mexico.

The district needs to bring the numbers down to 100 to meet its management plan.

Herman, who runs the Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary, hopes the birth control injections represent a shift in how the Forest Service manages its wild horses.

She says it's time for different solutions rather than just round-up and removal


http://www.kdbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=10165159&nav=menu608_2_3