Kimberly Frank | Executive Director | |
From the Executive Director
Dear Friends in Conservation,
How can it be December already? Another year has flown by leaving us with much to be thankful for including our health, our team, and our community. We're grateful for our many partners who are the boots on the ground of wildlife conservation. May you set your boots aside for a few days and enjoy a moment of rest over the holiday season.
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In this final newsletter of the year, we look back on the past few months and check in with our partners in Utah. Wild Horses of American Foundation has an impressive fertility control program in the Onaqui Mountains of Utah. We'll visit with Melissa on the status of PZP-22 registration and go on the road with Kayla to Colorado.
Thank you for taking time this year to browse our NEW newsletter. We know your time is valuable. As always, the SCC strives to be a resource for your program needs. Our team is a phone call or email away. Simply reach out with your questions, feedback, requests or ideas. We promise to respond!
Enjoy the newsletter AND the holiday season,
Kimberly Frank
Executive Director
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The 2026 training calendar is announced! Please consider the following dates for training at the SCC's campus:
- March 3-5
- April 7-9
- May 12-14
- June 2-4
- July 7-9
- August 4-6
- September 1-3
- October 6-8
- November: Pending interest
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Trainings can also be scheduled off-site for groups of six or more based on Kayla's availability.
Field Guiding
Need help in the field or just getting started? Having worked for many years with multiple herds and with tractable to elusive horses, we can help get you started with identification and documentation along with guidance in the field as you start to dart horses.
For more information about the trainings or field guiding, visit our website at Applicator Trainings or contact Kayla Grams at kgrams@sccpzp.org.
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2025 Pathways Conference
Human Dimensions of Wildlife
| | Kayla Grams, Senior Biologist | | |
In September, Melissa Esser, myself, and our board treasurer Celeste Carlisle traveled to Colorado for the Pathways 2025 Human Dimensions of Wildlife conference. The program was designed to address the many issues that arise as people and wildlife learn to coexist. This year’s theme was “Appreciating Natures Benefits,” and included wonderful topics from management to conservation. Sessions explored connecting with nature and the shifting of society’s values from not just hunting and angling, but to hiking, birding and wildlife viewing.
The attraction to work in the field among nature is prevalent in the scientific world. It is understandable how many of you reading this post appreciate and enjoy being around wild horses. Even though remotely darting horses with a contraceptive can be hard work, being out in nature is truly awe-inspiring. Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center, Dacher Keltner, presented a plenary talk called “The Science and Practice of Awe.” What is awe? It is the presence of something vast and mysterious. Nature repairs us and has so many benefits physically and mentally. What are your “awe” moments?
The Science and Conservation Center participated in a wild horse and burro session diving into the history of the movement, and the lessons learned through multiple mistakes and rebooted attempts at a long-term plan. Yet we keep working to bring together the broadest set of stakeholders and the most effective people who utilize members' strengths to figure out, and indeed to implement, a sustainable, humane, and proud wild horse and burro management regime - one that can be an appreciated part of western landscapes.
During this conference we ventured out to visit Rocky Mountain National Park. Our mentor and friend Dr. Jay F. Kirkpatrick worked as a park ranger there from 1961 – 1966. We visited his ranger cabin, still standing near Irene Lake. It is boarded up, but we sat and thought about what life was like during Jay’s days in RMNP. Jay loved the National Parks, so it felt surreal knowing that this is where he lived during the beginnings of his career, what he may have done there, and the influences and interests he had that led him to his life and work at The Science and Conservation Center.
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PZP works wonders in bears! Mysteriously, PZP does not work in any other carnivores that we know of but has a 99% efficacy in bears. Could it be because they are omnivores? Sometimes science works in mysterious ways.
Currently the SCC works with 17 zoos all over the world to contracept black and brown bears, Himalayan and Asian black bears, a Kodiak bear, grizzly bears, an Andean bear, and sun bears. We don't currently work with wild bears, but PZP could be a great management option where black bears are abundant due to the outstanding efficacy rates.
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Partner Spotlight
Wild Horses of America Foundation
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The Wild Horses of America Foundation (WHOA) began in 2001 with a mission to better the lives of America's wild horses and burros. The group partners with the BLM to manage the horses living in the Onaqui Mountain Herd Management Area approximately 90 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. The HMA is 200,000 plus scenic acres of high desert climbing to juniper-covered mountains. Approximately 470 horses call the HMA home.
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Jan Drake has volunteered with WHOA since 2016 when she was photographing the horses and happened upon Jim Schnepel, WHOA president, and BLM staff out darting. Today Jan leads the group’s darting efforts with a team of seven volunteers. A critical aspect of WHOA’s work is their collaborative relationship with the Salt Lake City BLM field office. Each year, Jan works with BLM staff to develop the annual darting plan, and thanks to the trust between the two groups, the BLM entrusts the management of the plan to the WHOA team. Their collaborative approach is working. Each year, they dart about 75 to 85 mares and have reproductive rates down to 6%.
The Onaqui Mountain horses are akin to celebrities of the wild horse world. Visitors from all over the globe come to see and photograph the horses. Jan says there are benefits to the visibility of the horses including approachability and the educational opportunities that arise from darting in front of spectators. Jan and her team make it a point to introduce themselves and explain their management approach to visitors, and while the response might be mixed, Jan says it’s more often positive than not. The other upside to frequent visitors is that they unknowingly help acclimate the more wary horses to humans and vehicles, helping the dart team treat more mares.
A recent challenge for the group has been the government shutdown. Because of their agreement with the BLM, they were unable to dart during the shutdown. They are working now to catch up, and to even get ahead, should another shutdown be in the near future. But despite the challenges, Jan says the range is her happy place and the wellbeing of the horses is her reason, a sentiment we can all relate to.
The SCC is proud to have worked with the Wild Horses of America Foundation for eleven years and look forward to many more! To learn more about WHOA, visit their website at Wild Horses of America Foundation.
| | | Photos courtesy of Wild Horses of America Foundation | | | | PZP-22 is a long-acting version of the PZP vaccine that consists of three time-release pellets. The pellets release PZP and the booster at one, three, and 12 months. Mares treated with a PZP-22 primer and retreated with a PZP booster two to four years later have high levels of contraception. PZP-22 has been used on a limited basis and is now undergoing federal registration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Federal registration will allow for management level use of PZP-22 in wildlife. | | | The SCC initially anticipated a registration timeframe of approximately one year. However, significant staffing changes at the EPA and a need to register inert ingredients have lengthened the timeframe. Melissa Esser of the SCC expects the registration process to take approximately 2.5 years under the new conditions. The SCC is working closely with Humane World for Animals to register PZP-22 as soon as possible. Stay tuned here and on our website for PZP-22 updates. Or visit our publications and research page on our website for published papers on PZP-22: Research and Scholarly Papers - The Science & Conservation Center. | | |
Did you know, the Science and Conservation Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization? We are. And just like all nonprofits the world over, end-of-year is our fundraising season. In 2001, we became a nonprofit to keep our programs affordable to our partners and minimize financial barriers to fertility control vaccines and trainings. Through donations and grants, our vaccines and trainings are provided to our partners at 60% of production costs.
We give $100,000 dollars in discounts and grants each year to our qualifying partners.
Your donation helps keep vaccines and trainings affordable and supports science-based, humane wildlife solutions.
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The SCC's laboratory is running full force. End of the year orders are rolling in and we're glad to see projects moving forward despite the many unknowns in 2025. The SCC is in the planning stages of some lab improvements in 2026, primarily replacement of equipment dating back to when the lab was built . Updates will help us maintain the highest quality standards for our vaccines and allow us to stockpile doses as both an insurance measure or in the case of sudden increases in demand. We are grateful to Anna Hoover, our lab technician, who keeps the lab humming!
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Happy Holidays from the SCC Team!
We wish you a wonderful holiday season and happy new year! May your holidays be filled with family, friends, and good cheer.
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SCC Staff:
Kimberly Frank, Kayla Grams, Melissa Esser, Anna Hoover, Holly Sessoms
SCC Board:
Claire Oakley, Celeste Carlisle, Chris Dimock, David Irion, Jack Nickels, Jessica Hart, Melanie Schwarz, Allen Rutberg, Dave Pauli, Laurence Martin, Fred Deigert
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| | About the Science and Conservation Center International | | The Science and Conservation Center is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to the development of humane wildlife contraceptives and methods of application. Our research supports safe, humane, and publicly acceptable wildlife management paradigms. | | |
Partner: The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)
Member: Association of Zoos and Aquariums Reproductive Management Center
Member: European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) Reproductive Management Group
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