'Our technology has the potential to significantly improve the welfare of both.'Ĭincinnati Zoo's CREW team worked on this project alongside researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Horae Gene Therapy Center, funded by the Joanie Bernard Foundation and the Michelson Found Animals Foundation 'I'm both a domestic cat advocate and a wildlife advocate,' Vansandt said. Scientists estimate that feral cats kill between 1.3 and 4.0 billion birds, and between 6.3 and 22.3 billion mammals annually in just the US alone.

Vansandt, emphasized the positive impact that the treatment could also have on rare or declining wildlife species. 'The best way to avoid euthanasia,' he told CNN, 'is not to have all these animals that don't have homes.' Swanson said the inspiration for this proof-of-concept study 'was really to address the cat and dog overpopulation issue and the euthanasia of a lot of these animals in shelters.' Swanson took home three of the lab cats himself. With the all clear given, all nine of the study cats became eligible for adoption. The high concentration of AMH serves as a contraceptive by suppressing the creation of ovarian follicles in female cats and other mammals.įollowing the success of the CREW team's two, four-month-long breeding trials, the treated cats were monitored for approximately three years to better ensure the safety of the new treatment. 'All of the control cats produced kittens, but none of the cats treated with the gene therapy became pregnant,' she said.ĪMH gene therapy works by inducing the cat's muscle cells to produce AMH, which is typically only produced in the ovaries.Ī single injection of the treatment raises the presence of the hormone in cats about 100 times over. Lindsey Vansandt, director of CREW's Imperiled Cat Signature Project. 'Evidence for the effectiveness of this treatment is strong,' said the study's lead author, Dr.

Swanson took home three of the lab cats himself Six female cats at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden's Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) were treated with the long-lasting contraceptive injection.Īlongside those six felines dosed with the contraceptive AMH gene therapy, three untreated females served as a control group.Īfter three years, with the study a success, all nine of the study cats became eligible for adoption. Swanson and his team's solution, as published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Communications, is a single dose of Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) gene therapy, which they have found prevents ovulation in female cats over a long period. Swanson said, 'is difficult to achieve on a large scale because surgery requires general anesthesia, an adequately equipped surgical facility, and more veterinarians than are currently available.' Bill Swanson, a director of animal research at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, 'which is one of the reasons we're excited about what this new technology can do to improve the lives of domestic cats.' 'We are cat lovers,' said one of the study's co-authors, Dr. To make matters worse, these cunning and hungry feral hunters are responsible for decimating endangered bird, reptile and small mammal species across the world.īut researchers have found a more practical solution than costly and failing surgical spaying efforts: a new long-term contraceptive injection for felines. The strays face hard lives themselves, not uncommonly coming to an end via euthanasia at an animal shelter.

Cheats hack MyFreeZoo code:diamonds, premium animal, booster pack, speed up, auto clicker, legendary card, money MyFreeZoo Hack tools gift voucher visitors, multiplayer mode codes game bug android, ios.An estimated 480 million domesticated cats across the world are feral or strays, with somewhere between 30 and 80 million free-roaming cats struggling on their own across the United States.

My free zoo mobile android hacks