The Neutersol® Solution
 
The recent approval by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) of Neutersol®, the first chemical sterilant for male dogs, has opened the door to an exciting alternative method of controlling large-animal wildlife populations. Neutersol® is an injectable zinc gluconate solution with arginine buffers. Because zinc gluconate injections can act as a permanent sterilant on any testicular tissue, its use on male Black Bears offers a non-lethal alternative for Black Bear population control.

FDA Approved - Extra-Label Use
 
Because Neutersol® is FDA approved as a chemical sterilant for male dogs, it can be used legally as an extra-label drug in any nonfood animal according to the rules of the American Medicinal Animal Act (AMAA) and the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act (AMDUCA). (For the purposes of these acts and other FDA and USDA concerns, Black Bears are categorized as a "nonfood animal".) In situations where no FDA approved drug is available for the intended use (male chemical sterilant) on the intended species (Black Bear) the AMDUCA allows a veterinary medical physician to legally use a drug that has been approved by the FDA for the intended use but for another species. Neutersol® is an FDA-approved chemical sterilant approved for use in male dogs. Since there is no FDA approved drug available as a chemical male sterilant for Black Bears, AMDUCA allows the use of Neutersol® as a chemical sterilant for male Black Bears, which are categorized by the FDA as a nonfood animal.

Although potential side effects of Neutersol® are extremely rare - less than one percent of dogs in the original study were adversely affected. Of these noted side-effects, none were lethal and consisted mainly of minor complaints. Although we do not anticipate any significant side-effects when Neutersol® is used on Black Bears, we are taking extra steps to insure safety through our protocol designs.

Phases of the Black Bear Sterilization Project