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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 36(3)

Field test of a single-injection gonadotrophin-releasing hormone immunocontraceptive vaccine in female white-tailed deer

James P. Gionfriddo A C , John D. Eisemann A , Kevin J. Sullivan B , Ronald S. Healey B , Lowell A. Miller A , Kathleen A. Fagerstone A , Richard M. Engeman A and Christi A. Yoder A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, 4101 LaPorte Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA.

B USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services, 1568 Whitehall Road, Annapolis, MD 21401, USA.

C Corresponding author. Email: james.p.gionfriddo@aphis.usda.gov

Wildlife Research 36(3) 177-184 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR08061
Submitted: 18 April 2008  Accepted: 5 January 2009   Published: 15 April 2009

Abstract

The development and use of safe, effective and practical wildlife contraceptive agents could reduce reproduction in locally overabundant deer populations in situations where traditional management tools such as regulated hunting cannot be employed. GonaCon Immunocontraceptive Vaccine (the commercial name for a particular gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-based emulsion) was tested in adult female white-tailed deer in a fenced herd near Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. Observations of udder condition were used to identify does that had become pregnant. Necropsy observations, histopathology and serum concentrations of anti-GnRH antibodies, luteinising hormone and progesterone were used to compare health and reproductive status of treated (n = 28) and control (n = 15) deer. After receiving one injection of GonaCon, 88% of treated deer did not become pregnant during the first year and 47% did not become pregnant during the second year after vaccination. No adverse health effects related to vaccination with GonaCon were detected, except for localised injection-site reactions in five (29%) of 17 examined, vaccinated deer. Treatment with GonaCon can be a safe and effective means of inducing temporary infertility in wild white-tailed deer. Ultimately, the management value of GonaCon will be determined by natural-resource professionals who use it as one of many tools to manage deer populations.


Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the US General Services Administration. Scientists employed by the USDA APHIS were involved in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, and in the writing of the manuscript. The US General Services Administration (GSA) and its employees had no such involvement in the study. We thank the GSA and the US Army Laboratory at Adelphi for providing a study site and for logistical assistance that was invaluable to the success of this study. We are very grateful to C. M. Bens, J. B. Bourassa, L. Clark, K. A. Crane, K. B. Cross, R. J. Dimayuga, Jr, D. C. Emanueli, R. H. Fey, B. B. German, T. C. Hall, S. Jojola, J. M. Kemp, G. J. Killian, T. C. Mathies, J. R. O’Hare, G. E. Phillips, V. J. Pierce, A. A. Reed, J. J. Smith, R. Wardwell and three anonymous reviewers for help with various aspects of the study or with the preparation of this manuscript.


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