Here's everything that the PGC has said publicly about deer birth control that I could find....
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Wildlife fertility control approved by EPA
Birth control for deer is not a new concept. In fact, research on these drugs is more than four decades old. And none of the drugs researched has ever been federally approved…until now.
Recently, the EPA gave approval to GonaCon as a restricted use pesticide. GonaCon is a immunocontraceptive vaccine developed by USDA Wildlife Services at the National Wildlife Research Center. It prevents sex hormones from being produced, and the animal remains in a non-reproductive state as long as a sufficient level of antibody activity is present.
Whether GonaCon can reduce deer populations in developed areas is still unknown.
Although GonaCon can stop reproduction in individual animals, its effect on a population is the most important measure for deer management. Past studies have shown fertility control to be a slow-acting, unreliable population management method.
GonaCon is considered a single-shot, multiyear vaccine for use on female white-tailed deer. In a two different field studies, it was shown to be 88 percent and 67 percent effective in preventing pregnancy in white-tailed deer in Year 1 and less than 50 percent effective in preventing pregnancy in Year 2. Efficacy of GonaCon is dependant on the individual animal’s immune response. As a result, there will be deer that are treated that will still get pregnant and have fawns.
Fall 2009 8 Managing Pennsylvania’s wild birds, wild mammals, and their habitats for current and future generations. www.pgc.state.pa.us
Other limitations of GonaCon include: - 1. Animal capture: GonaCon must be administered by hand injection. This requires all animals to be captured, handled, and tagged.
- 2. For adult females only: GonaCon is for use in female white-tailed deer 1 year of age and older. Female fawns cannot be treated with GonaCon. However, in many areas of Pennsylvania female fawns breed before one year of age.
- 3. Other deer population management methods: GonaCon is not intended to be the sole method of deer population management. Other methods will need to be employed to reduce deer populations and impacts.
- 4. Limited Applicators: Only USDA or state wildlife management agency personnel or persons working under their authority will be specifically permitted to use GonaCon. As a result, state wildlife agencies will set criteria for any possible uses of GonaCon.
All of this means any potential use of GonaCon will not be simple. The federal registration of GonaCon opens a new chapter in deer management options. However, some of the same old issues – such as drug effectiveness, and the ability to capture and treat a large proportion of the population – will remain substantial challenges. Given the unproven nature of these drugs to control or manage a free-ranging deer population, any Game Commission guidelines for their use will be designed to rigorously test this drug in real world circumstances.
Users of GonaCon will have to capture deer – similar to this deer captured as part of a Game Commission field study – and hand inject the drug into each animal.
While it's not quite the response that Ohio had, it is certainly nothing even close to an endorsement. As a matter of fact, it's very skeptical of the idea of deer contraception