Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward reviews the science that underpins the Bureau of Land Management's oversight of free-ranging horses and burros on federal public lands in the western United States, concluding that constructive changes could be implemented. The Wild Horse and Burro Program has not used scientifically rigorous methods to estimate the population sizes of horses and burros, to model the effects of management actions on the animals, or to assess the availability and use of forage on rangelands. Evidence suggests that horse populations are growing by 15 to 20 percent each year, a level that is unsustainable for maintaining healthy horse populations as well as healthy ecosystems. Promising fertility-control methods are available to help limit this population growth, however. In addition, science-based methods exist for improving population estimates, predicting the effects of management practices in order to maintain genetically diverse, healthy populations, and estimating the productivity of rangelands. Greater transparency in how science-based methods are used to inform management decisions may help increase public confidence in the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

This collection of essays is the first major work in more than a decade to discuss the critical issue of wildlife contraception and the first ever to take up contraception-both theory and practice-for wild animals in captivity. The authors, leading international experts on the subject, analyze the use of wildlife contraception for various animal populations, including nonhuman primates, ungulates, pinnipeds, cetaceans, and other mammals. The chapters examine and critique types of contraception, and their effects, and explore the best method for each situation. Using the most recent data and findings, this comprehensive collection addresses problems related to unrestricted population growth, the ethics of wildlife contraception, and regulatory issues for wildlife managers, animal rights organizations, zoos worldwide, and anyone interested in the humane control of animal populations.