Device that self-assembles in the uterus could limit wild horse births

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre

Feral horse populations can be difficult to manage, but a new intrauterine device (IUD) that puts itself together with magnets inside the uterus could help sterilise mares and solve overpopulation issues.

Current feral horse sterilisation techniques are impractical because they require darting each mare with contraceptive chemicals every year after an initial injection and five-week booster. “When you’re talking about hundreds of thousands of animals across a vast territory, keeping track of each individual mare’s schedule is just …