Fertility Control in Animals Jay F
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy Animal Studies Repository 2001 Fertility Control in Animals Jay F. Kirkpatrick University of California - Davis Allen T. Rutberg Tufts nU iversity Follow this and additional works at: https://animalstudiesrepository.org/sota_2001 Part of the Animal Studies Commons, Other Animal Sciences Commons, and the Population Biology Commons Recommended Citation Kirkpatrick, J.F., & Rutberg, A.T. (2001). Fertility control in animals. In D.J. Salem & A.N. Rowan (Eds.), The ts ate of the animals 2001 (pp.183-198). Washington, DC: Humane Society Press. This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of the Animal Studies Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Fertility Control in Animals 12CHAPTER Jay F. Kirkpatrick and Allen T. Rutberg From Mortality Control to Fertility Control or most of the twentieth centu- license sales and Pittman-Robertson severe wildlife conflicts arise in loca- ry, government agencies charged grants), volunteer labor, and a dedi- tions that are effectively unhuntable, Fby law with managing wildlife were cated political constituency. such as parks, research campuses, and dedicated to building the size and At the beginning of the twenty-first suburban neighborhoods. Killing of productivity of populations of game century, this neat system is unravel- some species, such as wild horses, is species. Under a utilitarian philoso- ing. Demographic changes are pro- simply unacceptable to the public. phy of wildlife conservation, this ded- ducing a shrinking and aging popula- The public’s tolerance of invasions of ication made sense and, in its time, tion of hunters and trappers (hunters, their parks and backyards by armed was arguably a highly progressive for example, now represent only 7 strangers is declining just as its sym- view of wildlife (Dunlap 1988). percent of the total U.S. population) pathy for wild animals and its interest In the United States, state game (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1997); in nonlethal solutions to wildlife prob- management went far to reverse the a growing public appreciation of lems are rising. wildlife catastrophe of the nineteenth “nongame” species that have been While the public is searching for century. In the 1800s hunting and neglected, and even harmed, by new, humane approaches to solving trapping for commercial markets management of game species; and conflicts with wildlife, state wildlife drove Carolina parakeets and passen- changes in public values, from utili- agencies persist in recommending ger pigeons extinct and nearly extir- tarian views to moral views of wildlife hunting and its variations. Wildlife pated bison, elk, deer, beavers, egrets, (Kellert 1985; Dunlap 1988). The agencies in some states, such as New waterfowl, songbirds, and any other biggest challenge to the system may York, are required by law to promote furred or feathered creature that could arise from the failure of state agen- recreational hunting (Marion 1987). make a meal or adorn a hat (Tober cies to respond effectively to the But, more pervasively, most state 1981). Predatory birds and mammals problems associated with dense popu- agency personnel have strong cultur- were shot on sight because of the lations of deer, geese, and other al and political links to the hunting threat they posed to domestic live- species, especially in urban and sub- and trapping community. This com- stock and poultry and because they urban communities. munity is (somewhat irrationally) hos- were believed by some to be genuine- How could a system founded on tile to the concept of nonlethal man- ly evil (Dunlap 1988).1 hunting and trapping—killing—find agement of wildlife (Kirkpatrick and Through an aggressive program of itself unable to control wildlife popu- Turner 1995; Hagood 1997). Wildlife reintroduction, habitat management, lations and solve problems associated agencies’ advocacy of hunting and and restrictions on killing, state wild- with abundant wildlife? There are sev- trapping is coupled with a reluctance life agencies succeeded in restoring eral reasons. Reflecting cultural atti- to pursue or encourage research into populations of deer, elk, beavers, tudes—and regulations—that discour- other approaches. As a result, the pub- otters, waterfowl, and other game and age the killing of females, public lic is turning elsewhere for solutions. fur-bearing species (Gilbert and Dodds hunting has focused on removing There are, effectively, only two 1992). The linchpin of this effort was male deer and other big-game ani- choices for actively managing the size recreational hunting and trapping, mals, leaving populations streamlined of animal populations: reducing the which furnished funding (through for reproduction. Many of the most birth rate and increasing the death 183 rate. (Local population size may also proaches and, more specifically, the passed the rigorous regulatory re- be controlled by movement of individ- nature of the chemicals, hormones, quirements of today’s FDA or Envi- uals in and out; but when the size and other compounds that have been ronmental Protection Agency (EPA). of animal populations concerns us, applied to various species. Chronolog- Some nonhormonal compounds movement of individuals merely relo- ically, these approaches can be classi- were derived from plant products and cates the concerns. We are not fied as (1) nonhormonal chemicals, based on historical evidence that absolved of our responsibility for ani- (2) steroid hormones, (3) non- Native Americans used certain plants mals simply because they go some- steroidal hormones, (4) barrier meth- for contraceptive purposes. A comp- where else.) Killing certainly can ods, and (5) immunocontraceptives. rehensive review (Farnsworth and reduce and even destroy wildlife pop- This oversimplification is com- Waller 1982) listed fifty plant families ulations if enough animals of the pounded by the various permutations with documented antifertility effects right description are removed from of chemical agent, delivery system, in males and females. Despite some the population. Until the last decade and specific species. For example, a controlled tests with laboratory ani- of the twentieth century, however, fer- contraceptive can be delivered (1) mals (Cranston 1945; Barfnect and tility control for wildlife was not seen orally, (2) by surgically placed im- Peng 1968) and a few wild species of as a feasible option. plant, (3) by hand-injection, or (4) by rodents (Berger et al. 1977) and re- Everything changed between 1988 remotely delivered dart.2 The histori- ports of occasional interference with and 1989. The successful use of a cal development of wildlife contracep- fertility in humans (Shao 1987), few remotely deliverable immunocontra- tives had to take into account whe- investigators have attempted to ex- ceptive on free-ranging wild horses at ther the animal was (1) small and ploit these naturally occurring sub- Assateague Island National Seashore, easily live-trapped, (2) usually wary stances to control reproduction in in Maryland, opened a new universe of and unapproachable, (3) living in a wildlife. This area remains a fertile possibilities for the humane, non- captive setting, (4) capable of being subject for interested scientists. lethal control of wildlife populations. induced to take baits, or (5) classified as a food animal by the U.S. Food and Steroid Hormones Drug Administration (FDA). Research into the use of steroid hor- The History of mones for wildlife fertility control be- Nonhormonal came common in the 1960s and ’70s Wildlife Fertility Compounds and was based on the research origi- Nonhormonal compounds have been nally directed at human fertility con- Control trol (Pincus et al. 1958). In general, The history of wildlife fertility control used most extensively in birds. Some steroid hormones work as contracep- and its application to the manage- of the compounds used were classi- tives by feeding back upon the hypo- ment of free-roaming and captive fied as fungicides and seed disinfec- thalamus and/or pituitary glands and wildlife populations is relatively short, tants (Arasan®, DuPont Co.) (Elder depressing gonadotropic hormones, perhaps no more than fifty years. 1964), others as anticholesterol thereby reducing or eliminating ovu- Until the late 1980s, wildlife contra- agents (22,25-diacholesterol dihy- lation or spermatogenesis, or by ception was a “boutique” subject drochloride, later marketed as Orni- changing the speed with which the among scientists and wildlife man- trol®, G. D. Searle and Co.) (Wofford ovum moves through the oviducts. agers. This lack of interest is a bit sur- and Elder 1967). In both cases, fertil- Diethylstilbestrol (DES, a synthetic prising, because the technology devel- ity was inhibited but toxic effects estrogen) was introduced into bait oped for contraception in humans has made the compounds unacceptable. and fed to foxes (Vulpes vulpes) (Lin- been impressive and its application to Most of the other compounds used hart and Enders 1964; Cheatum wildlife is fundamentally sound, at for birds (thiotepta and triethylene 1967; Oleyar and McGinnes 1974; least in a pharmacological context. melamine) had similar shortcomings Allen 1982), coyotes (Canis latrans) Various compounds developed for use (Davis 1959, 1962). In general, non- (Balser 1964; Brushman et al. 1967), in humans were first tested