Oral immunocontraceptive vaccines: A novel approach for fertility control in wildlife

Yang, Jinpeng; Zhou, Ziyao; Li, Gangshi; Dong, Zhiyou; Li, Qianlan; Fu, Keyi; Liu, Haifeng; Zhong, Zhijun; Fu, Hualin; Ren, Zhihua; Gu, Wuyang; Peng, Guangneng

doi:10.1111/aji.13653

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 110 publications

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“…GnRH vaccines have also been examined as a method for managing wildlife populations, including deer, horses, squirrels, prairie dogs, elk, elephants, brushtail possums, and wild boars, as reviewed by others ( 174 , 476 , 531 ). GonaCon™, in particular, shows long-term effectiveness at reducing fertility in white-tailed deer and wild horses by targeting females ( 473 ).…”

Section: Methods Of Sterilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male animal sterilization: history, current practices, and potential methods for replacing castration

Hess,

Park,

Soto

et al. 2024

Front. Vet. Sci.

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Sterilization and castration have been synonyms for thousands of years. Making an animal sterile meant to render them incapable of producing offspring. Castration or the physical removal of the testes was discovered to be the most simple but reliable method for managing reproduction and sexual behavior in the male. Today, there continues to be global utilization of castration in domestic animals. More than six hundred million pigs are castrated every year, and surgical removal of testes in dogs and cats is a routine practice in veterinary medicine. However, modern biological research has extended the meaning of sterilization to include methods that spare testis removal and involve a variety of options, from chemical castration and immunocastration to various methods of vasectomy. This review begins with the history of sterilization, showing a direct link between its practice in man and animals. Then, it traces the evolution of concepts for inducing sterility, where research has overlapped with basic studies of reproductive hormones and the discovery of testicular toxicants, some of which serve as sterilizing agents in rodent pests. Finally, the most recent efforts to use the immune system and gene editing to block hormonal stimulation of testis function are discussed. As we respond to the crisis of animal overpopulation and strive for better animal welfare, these novel methods provide optimism for replacing surgical castration in some species.

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Section: Methods Of Sterilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male animal sterilization: history, current practices, and potential methods for replacing castration

Hess,

Park,

Soto

et al. 2024

Front. Vet. Sci.

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“…Fertility control of terrestrial mammal species has been implemented in many ecosystems as an alternative or complementary management strategy to hunting and culling, and is viewed by some as a humane means of controlling wildlife populations (Kirkpatrick et al 1996, Kirkpatrick and Turner 2008, Carroll et al 2010, Messai and Cowan 2014). There has been growing interest in the scientific literature on the subject of fertility control in wildlife populations (Palmer et al 2018, Yang et al 2023), with one of the most common applications in mammal species being immuno‐contraception intended to sterilize females. Such methods have been applied to many species and include rabbits, opossums, badgers, foxes, cats, dogs, pigs, white‐tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ), elk ( Cervus canadensis ), bison ( Bison bison ), and horses ( Equus caballus ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Comparing lethal and non‐lethal methods of active population control for harbor seals in British Columbia

et al. 2023

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Pinniped populations around the world increased rapidly after hunting and culling during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries ended. Some believe that pinnipeds are now preventing the recovery of certain fish populations, and that controlling pinniped population abundance using lethal measures such as harvesting or by non‐lethal means like contraception could recover fish populations. It is unclear, however, how effective and how long it would take for such methods of population control to bring numbers of pinnipeds down to target levels. We used sex‐ and age‐structured population models to estimate how quickly harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) abundance in British Columbia, Canada, could be reduced by 50%, through combinations of lethal removals and sterilization of adult females. Models were fit to seal abundance, demographic, and harvest data collected between 1879 and 2014. Simulation modeling suggests reliance on contraception exclusively is unlikely to reduce the current harbor seal population (numbering ~100,000) by 50% within 25 years, and would result in more variable outcomes, compared to lethal removals. Contraception could be combined with harvesting to maintain a target abundance of harbor seals (although captive studies with harbor seals are needed to confirm the efficacy of contraception). Our simulation modeling approach provides a useful framework to assess how non‐lethal measures could be integrated into policies that promote active population control of harbor seal numbers.

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An assessment of seasonal bait uptake by individual grey squirrels to develop a delivery system for oral contraceptives

Beatham,

Stephens,

Goodwin

et al. 2024

Pest Management Science

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Globally, human–wildlife conflicts continue to increase, owing to human population growth and expansion. Many of these conflicts concern the impacts of invasive non‐native species. In the UK, the invasive, non‐native grey squirrel Sciurus carolinensis negatively affects tree health and has caused the decline of the native red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris. Oral contraceptives are being developed to manage the impacts of the grey squirrel. To be effective, contraceptives will need to be deployed at a landscape scale, and will require a delivery system that is practical and economically viable. Understanding grey squirrel feeding behaviour is important so that delivery methods can be designed so that a sufficient number of target individuals receive an effective contraceptive dose at a time of year that will ensure their infertility throughout peak times of breeding. The main aims of this study were to assess how sex, season, squirrel density and bait point density influenced; (1) the probability of a squirrel visiting a feeder and (2) the amount of bait consumed from feeders. Field trials were conducted on six woodland populations of squirrels in three seasons, with four days of bait deployment via purpose‐designed squirrel‐specific bait hoppers with integrated PIT‐tag readers. It was possible to deliver multiple doses on most days to most male and female grey squirrels, with bait deployment more likely to be effective in spring, immediately before the second annual peak in squirrel breeding, followed by winter, immediately before the first peak in breeding. The results from this study could be used to design methods for delivering oral contraceptive baits to grey squirrels in the future and the methods used could be applied to other small mammal species and other bait delivery systems. © 2024 Crown copyright and The Author(s). Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. This article is published with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the King's Printer for Scotland.

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Oral immunocontraceptive vaccines: A novel approach for fertility control in wildlife

Cited by 3 publications

References 110 publications

Male animal sterilization: history, current practices, and potential methods for replacing castration

Male animal sterilization: history, current practices, and potential methods for replacing castration

Comparing lethal and non‐lethal methods of active population control for harbor seals in British Columbia

An assessment of seasonal bait uptake by individual grey squirrels to develop a delivery system for oral contraceptives

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