Injectible female chemosterilant goes to field trials

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:
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/>.