The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced yesterday (May 8) that it has extended to May 28 its application deadline for research proposals aimed at controlling the population growth of wild horses and burros that roam public lands in the West. The original deadline was May 7.

The agency says it is extending the deadline "to ensure that it receives the best ideas for effective contraceptive techniques."

Joan Guilfoyle, division chief of the Wild Horse and Burro Program, said, “We are looking for breakthrough methods of controlling population growth rates, which will lessen the need to remove animals from the range while saving taxpayers money.”

In response to recommendations from a June 2013 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study, the BLM issued a request for applications to alert veterinarians, scientists, universities, pharmaceutical companies, and other researchers of the BLM’s need to develop new, innovative techniques and protocols for implementing population growth-suppression methods. Specifically, the BLM stated it were interested in finding experts to develop new or refine current techniques and protocols for either contraception or spaying/neutering on-range wild horses and burros via surgical, chemical, pharmaceutical, or mechanical (such as intrauterine devices) means