Birth control shot shows potential

Colorado State University researchers are working to perfect two short-term birth control methods that may eventually be injected by dart into wild animals such as elk, providing options for managing wildlife overpopulation in protected areas across the country.

Wildlife overpopulation plagues state and national parks across the nation and world, with overcrowding from bison, deer, elk, wild horses and other species causing damage to native habitat and impacting the diversity and abundance of other species that share the same space.

"Hunting and culling have traditionally been used to regulate animal numbers in the wild, but other approaches that meet public approval are needed in parks and urban areas where these methods are not feasible," said Dr. Terry Nett, a researcher at Colorado State University's Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Laboratory and the Department of Biomedical Sciences.