Today, the Sky Band of mustangs living in sanctuary has much to teach us about the loss of wild lands and what this means for wild horses and for all species, including the human animal. As truly wild places are lost, wild horses and all wildlife that share these lands are pushed off their home. The health of the lands they still roam is increasingly threatened as grass and water declines amidst climate chaos and ever-growing human activity.  Starvation is a slow, cruel phenomenon ~ as the health of the original mustangs of the Sky Band so clearly illustrate. Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary lives its deep commitment to wild horses, wildlife, and wildlands within and beyond sanctuary boundaries in all its endeavors for wild.

Life, Freedom, & Balance on the Range for Wild Horses ~ Humanity, Science, & Technology in Action

In 2009, a ground-breaking effort with sanctuary partners Mount Taylor Mustangs and the Carson National Forest led to the first-ever immunocontraception treatment in the country for wild horses on a U.S. Forest Service-managed territory. This approach means that wild horses stay free on their home range in numbers healthy for them, other wildlife, and the land. Treating wild horses with the immunocontraceptive Porcine Zona Pellucida, or PZP, slows down their reproduction. Prior to 2009, wild horses on Forest-managed Wild Horse Territories were rounded up from the range to limit herd numbers - round up and removal was the only management method used. Mustangs who are removed from the range face an uncertain future that at best results in freedom lost for most of them. Limiting reproduction via PZP treatment is a marked shift in the paradigm of how wild horses are treated. Immunocontraception is one strategy on the path forward to keeping wild horses free and wild horses, other wildlife, and the lands they roam healthy.

What is Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP)?

PZP is a vaccine against conception ~ an immunocontraceptive. Made from porcine ovum, it stays out of the reproductive stream in the body. This means that PZP prevents pregnancy with little side effects; some mares develop a lump at the injection sight that goes away on its own. Over forty years of research has demonstrated that PZP is safe for mares, pregnant mares and their foals, and for the environment. PZP is 90 - 95% effective, is reversible, and comes in two forms. Zonastat-H is the vaccine that provides one year of protection against conception. PZP-22 is the multi-year form of the vaccine. Using PZP to improve wild horse health by reducing reproduction is a key strategy for humane, science-based, tech-informed, effective and cost-sustainable efforts to keep wild horses free in numbers that are healthy for them, other wildlife, and the land.

PZP-22 ~ Innovation & Research

After achieving the first-ever immunocontraception treatment for wild horses on U.S. Forest land, the next adventure in freedom for more mustangs was treating mares with PZP-22. Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary and partners treated mares with PZP-22, or the multi-year immunocontraceptive, out on the range by darting these mares using air-powered dart guns. This project marked yet another key innovation - the first treatment of wild horses in the country with PZP-22 by darting on the range. Tufts University veterinary medicine students followed the treated mares for two years, and documented a 79% reduction and a 35% reduction in reproduction for these mares in years one and two, respectively. This research demonstrates how we can secure life, freedom, and health for wild horses in balance with the land. Treating herd members on the range with a multi-year immunocontraceptive is possible and successfully limits reproduction. Research results were published in the journal Wildlife Reproduction in 2019.

The Sky Band Makes Their Big Screen Debut in Roaming Wild

Sun, Moon, Fire, Luna and Starlight ~ the original Sky Band ~ showed the power of freedom restored in the award-winning documentary Roaming Wild, by Sylvia Johnson. The film is “a modern day Western  about wild horses in the center of an age-defining controversy where the demands of modern development are colliding with the needs of the wild.” Gorgeous wild horses and stunning cinematography interwoven with diverse perspectives illuminate key challenges facing wild horses, and paths forward for protecting them, other wildlife, and the range.

Christine Stevens Wildlife Award

Thank you to the Animal Welfare Institute for supporting sanctuary efforts with the Stevens Wildlife Award. Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary is honored to have won this national award twice, first in 2016 for research to develop new, low-stress methods for surveying wild horse herds on the range. The second Stevens Award funded sanctuary research on the effectiveness of PZP-22 immunocontraception. Both research projects tested new methods for working for wild horse herds to balance herd health and freedom with other wildlife and range health in the face of habitat loss and climate change. The Christine Stevens Wildlife Award is a nationally-competitive financial award given annually to up to ten researchers in the U.S. whose work “signals innovation in pursuit of humanely resolving wildlife-human conflicts,” according to the Institute.

Dine' Chapter Herd Planning

We thank the Chapter range staff and community for the opportunity to partner with them and with Animal Protection of New Mexico to serve community members, wild and free-roaming horses, and land, and for all they do. Working with the community and horses via herd surveying out on the range, immunocontraception treatment for horses, and hay/supply deliveries has been a deeply valued learning experience.

Santa Fe Community Foundation Courageous Innovation Award

Thank you to the Santa Fe Community Foundation for this award and for all the work of Foundation staff. We’re honored to have won this award for work with partners in achieving advances for wild horses and their health and freedom, including several firsts in the nation. The Courageous Innovation Award is given annually to a Northern New Mexico nonprofit organization that “demonstrates impact by forging new paths to address complex challenges,” according to the Foundation.

Tour Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary via the awards video

Journal Publication ~ Fertility Control and the Welfare of Free-Roaming Horses and Burros on U.S. Public Lands: The Need for an Ethical Framing, in the journal Animals, (2022)

How do we further stronger ethics for the treatment of wild horses and burros roaming on public lands in the U.S.? What are key viewpoints of historical and contemporary inhabitants of these lands? How will we develop wider perspectives for wildlife and land health? Drs. Allen Rutberg, Tufts University, John Turner, University of Toledo, and Karen Herman, Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary, seek an initial framing of these questions grounded in ethics. Read the paper at https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/19/2656/pdf

Project Coexistence Documentary

How will we humans coexist with wildlife in a world forever changed by the loss of wild lands and climate chaos? Filmed in Northern New Mexico at Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary and on public lands, as well as in South Africa, Project Coexistence dives deeply into this question. The film explores efforts to protect the lives and freedom of wild horses and elephants by scientists using the best immunocontraception science and technology in wild places amidst often-violent conflict. The film is in development ~ view stunning trailer footage at https://vimeo.com/712694206/35435b422b & https://projectcoexistence.com

Science, partnerships, time with wildlife in the wild, technology, art, policy change … Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary pursues continuous learning in these spheres and beyond, seeking a new paradigm in which all wildlife live free and thrive in healthy ecosystems. Join us for the adventure of life and wild ~ humanity in action for wildlife, the human animal, and the planet.