THE AMERICAN MUSTANG


quired booster), utilizing the porcine zona pollucida (PZP) vaccine.a So far, with the exception of one mare, all mares and fillies have been vaccinated by hand.


sia, using xylazineb (1.5 mg/kg, IV) and ketamine (1.5 mg/kg, IV) mixed with diazepam (0.015 mg/kg, IV), with the ketamine-diazepam mixture adminis- tered after the xylazine has taken effect. The cas- trations are performed using the Henderson equine castrating tool.c All horses castrated or vaccinated with PZP, are


Castrations are performed under general anesthe-


given a Microchip ID implant, a 5-way vaccination, and deworming at no additional cost. Tribal emergency funding provided for 1000 cas- trations and 1500 mare PZP vaccinations. Addi- tionally, funding was provided for field travel cost for staff to the end of the 2013 fiscal year (October 2013).


3. Results


In the months of the active 2013 program, a little over 8900 feral free roaming horses were im- pounded, of which about 250 were reclaimed by per- mitted owners, and the remainder sold,7,8 with the requirement that they could not be returned to the Navajo Nation. In communities that held depopu- lation projects, forage conditions were markedly im- proved at the end of the 2013 grazing season.8,12 To date, more than 700 horses have been castrated or vaccinated by the Navajo Nation Veterinary Pro- gram outreach, with a majority being castrations.


4. Discussion


The management of livestock, of which horses are included, has historically been left to the Bureau of Indian Affairs,6 with the Nation slowly taking over the responsibilities as a sovereign Nation government.4,9 Much of this change was due to the John Collier approved reduction of livestock in the 1930s10 and the “outbreak of Dorine in horses” at Canyon de Chelly National Monument. The Collier reduc- tions resulted in mass euthanasia and burials of livestock. The Dorine outbreak also resulted in over 500 horses being euthanized by gun and buried on Tribal land by the USDA.11 The aforementioned “waste of resources” has left a negative indelible mark on the attitude of the Navajo livestock owners towards the U.S. government. The current horse issue is a direct result of the elimination of an outlet for surplus horses in 2006. After the closure of U.S. horse abattoirs, there was no local economic value to excess horses, so no de- populations occurred. It cost more to remove a horse that was received at auction. Thus, horses were left to breed without any human controls and in North America there is no longer any apex pred- ator, other than humans for horses, to help control the population. One comment that is consistent at the field clinics and roundup has been “if it’s ok to


438 2014  Vol. 60  AAEP PROCEEDINGS


humanely euthanize a cow or a sheep, why is it wrong to use the same method for a horse?” An- other comment often heard is “why is it better to put down a horse, and allow the animal be wasted?” which, for the Navajo, includes the cultural and traditional consumption of horses. Following horse population reductions, many of


the affected communities saw a marked improve- ment of range conditions.8,12 One of the major ac- tivities of the Navajo Nation Fish and Wildlife is the protection of endangered species, with the Depart- ment’s heritage program charged with the protec- tion of endangered plants. Protection of these endangered plant species from horses has become a major activity, as they have been a major contribu- tor of damage to the soil and surrounding plant communities. The reduction of horse populations has aided this effort by reducing the cost of install- ing physical barriers. The response of the public to veterinary services


has been positive. People have appreciated and recognize the value of the program, both personally for their horses and for the betterment of the com- munity. The most-received comment was how “there are too many horses running free,” and how “stallions caused so much injury and damage,” While well received, the vaccination of mares gener- ated two interesting points. First, the folks that got their mares vaccinated did it more to “keep stal- lions from being drawn to their horses” than to not have a foal and, second, there has been very poor follow-up booster vaccination, despite efforts to pro- vide the booster vaccinations at the owner’s conve- nience and after multiple efforts reminding them. Based upon the comments and poor owner compli- ance, we are investigating the use of the antigen GnRH vaccine,d as this would address both the stal- lion attraction issues, which PZP does not do, and the value and ease of a single vaccination, with a two to three year suppression of estrus. One problematic issue has been off-reservation proponents of animal rights as “concerned citizens” wanting to know what is being done with the excess feral horses and where horse roundups are occur- ring. This was especially bad following articles cov- ering the roundups and resulted in additional law enforcement presence with many of the local com- munities restricting noncommunity member access to the roundup locations. In addition, high profile people, without firsthand knowledge of the localized damage being caused by the feral horses, have used their status to work to stop the depopulations with no alternatives or fund- ing (at the time of writing this paper) to accomplish those goals being more than “paper” proposals. Interestingly, several of the proposals that have been put forward are to either “pen and feed” (who is going to pay the bill?) or to euthanize using drug overdose (which then requires burial or landfill disposal to prevent potential wildlife deaths). Cur- rently, the Navajo Nation Department of Agricul-


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