This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Articles in The Tribune often offer great insight. A paragraph of the Tribune article, "Can BLM rein in oversized herds by using birth control?" contains the sentence, "BLM Director Bob Abbey said the agency would begin using fertility control (aka forced birth control) on 2,000 mares each year."
The goal is "to reduce Utah's 4,300 wild horse population, which is double the number the BLM believes there should be on the range." The article also suggests that "mares come back healthier —more fertile and able to carry a foal — when the contraception wears off, that contraception controls herd size, and contraception reduces the competition for scarce water and grazing in Utah."
If Hobby Lobby's ACA lawsuit is upheld by the US Supreme Court, maybe their employees can obtain "free," voluntary birth control by running with the wild horses and hope that the BLM will "shoot them in the rump with a dart gun." Of course this assumes that PETA and/or Suzanne Roy, Director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, haven't filed a Hobby Lobby lawsuit to prevent the BLM fertility control program.
Frank Mandigo
Salt Lake City