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Nevada revives wild horse birth control program

Posted at 6:58 PM, Apr 20, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-20 21:58:39-04

RENO (AP) — Nevada horse advocates are looking forward to getting back to their work in the field after the state agreed to resume a birth control project for a herd of free-roaming mustangs near Reno.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports the volunteers are returning to the field in large part because Assembly Minority Leader Jim Wheeler, R-Gardnerville, convinced Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak to restore a program to enable volunteer darters to work with the Nevada Department of Agriculture.

Darters are volunteers with air rifles that fire darts with birth control into female horses' haunches.

The project fell apart on Oct. 25, 2017, when Nevada Department of Agriculture officials terminated a privately funded agreement that enabled volunteers associated with the American Wild Horse Campaign to manage horse issues on the Virginia Range.