REVIEW ARTICLE Contraceptive Vaccines for Wildlife: A Review Jay F. Kirkpatrick, Robin O. Lyda, Kimberly M. Frank The Science and Conservation Center, ZooMontana, Billings, MT, USA Keywords Wildlife, free-ranging and captive, poses and causes serious population Gonadotropin-releasing hormone, problems not unlike those encountered with human overpopulation. immunocontraception, porcine zona pellucida, Traditional lethal control programs, however, are not always legal, wise, wildlife safe, or publicly acceptable; thus, alternative approaches are necessary. Correspondence Immunocontraception of free-ranging wildlife has reached the manage- Jay F. Kirkpatrick, The Science and ment level, with success across a large variety of species. Thus far, the Conservation Center, ZooMontana, 2100 immunocontraceptive research and management applications emphasis South Shiloh Road, Billings, MT 59106, USA. have been centered on porcine zona pellucida and gonadotropin-releas- E-mail:
[email protected] ing hormone vaccines. Contraceptive success has been achieved in more than 85 different wildlife species, at the level of both the individual ani- Submitted February 28, 2011; mal and the population. At the population management level with free- accepted March 1, 2011. ranging species, the primary focus has been on wild horses, urban deer, Citation bison, and African elephants. The challenges in the development and Kirkpatrick JF, Lyda RO, Frank KM. application of vaccine-based wildlife contraceptives are diverse and Contraceptive vaccines for wildlife: a review. include differences in efficacy across species, safety of vaccines during Am J Reprod Immunol 2011; 66: 40–50 pregnancy, the development of novel delivery systems for wild and wary free-ranging animals, and the constraints of certain non-contracep- doi:10.1111/j.1600-0897.2011.01003.x tive effects, such as effects on behavior.