In February 2008, Texas A&M announced the university would do a study on birth control for wild animals and eventually cats and dogs. This would be a transformational event in the battle against animal population control. Unfortunately, in a recent conversation with Dwayne Kraemer at Texas A&M, he said “preliminary studies were not panning out the way they hoped.”
There is still much hope though for contraceptives for pets. Many researchers are exploring avenues to make pet contraception a reality, according to Joyce Briggs, president of the Alliance for Contraceptives for Cats and Dogs, thanks to a monetary incentive.
Back in the fall of 2008, the Found Animals Foundation and its partner, ACCD, announced the launch of the Michelson Prize in reproductive biology to encourage researchers to take on the challenge of developing a nonsurgical pet sterilant to address pet overpopulation problems. The Found Animals Foundation is offering $50 million in grants for researchers and a $25 million prize for the researchers who develop a marketable nonsurgical sterilant.
Let’s keep your fingers crossed that this can become a reality.