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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: October 2006

Injectible female chemosterilant
goes to field trials

 

PORTLAND, Oregon--Among the last actions of the Doris Day Animal League before it was absorbed on August 31, 2006 by the Humane Society of the U.S. was funding a grant issued on July 26 by the Alliance for Contraception for Cats and Dogs to help underwrite tests of a chemosterilant for female animals called ChemSpay, now underway on the Navajo Nation.

 

Headquartered in Windowrock, Arizona, near the junction of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah, the Navajo Nation presently has the highest rate of animal control killing of any incorporated entity in the U.S., at 135 dogs and cats killed per 1,000 humans per year, nearly 10 times the U.S. average of 14.5.

 

"An estimated 160,000 free-roaming dogs reproduce uncontrollably, attack and kill livestock, and contribute to 6,000 human bite reports each year," said Alliance president Joyce Briggs. "Packs of 20 to 30 dogs are still a common sight throughout the reservation," Briggs added. "Working with the humane societies on the reservation, SenesTech," the ChemSpay developer, "is injecting adopted female dogs with the sterilant and then following up to monitor whether or not the dogs are becoming sterile as a result," Briggs said.

 

ChemSpay is a byproduct of research on human menopause.

 

"Ovaries contain a finite number of follicles that do not generally regenerate once they are depleted," Briggs explained. "By accelerating the depletion of follicles, called ovarian atresia, with an injection, an animal can soon be made sterile without the need for surgery."

 

"We hope to develop a non-surgical, non-invasive product that could develop into an alternative to the surgical spaying of female animals," affirmed SenesTech president Loretta P. Mayer.

 

"Studies in cats are underway as well," said Briggs.

 

Further particulars of the ChemSpay trials are expected to be released at the Third International Symposium of the Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs, to be held November 9-12 in Alexandria, Virginia. Details are available from <info@-acc-d.org>, or at <www.acc-d.org/>.