[crazi4horses]

I am doing research on how premarin mares are treated(both good and bad farms) for english and I came across this website..If you have time, read this..

WARNING~SOME PARTS ARE GRUESOME, AND DETAILED~

In August of 2002, Last Chance for Animals’ Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigated the use of mares and foals in the production of Premarin. During this investigation, SIU acquired exclusive footage of the inhumane treatment of these animals.

It is the position of Last Chance for Animals that the practice of using pregnant mares is institutional animal abuse and the continued use of this method of production, when in fact there are proven alternative methods, is barbaric.

Considering the recent research findings regarding the long-term side effects of using Premarin-based products, the issue of women’s health is a major factor in bringing this case to the public’s attention
Toward that end, the SIU investigation revealed the plight of these animals. This document is a case summary of this investigation.

It is our position that Wyeth-Ayerst is currently utilizing animals for the production of a drug that has in some cases been proven harmful to women. We believe that once this information is provided to the public, medical practitioners, patients currently on Premarin and its related products, and those patients soon to become dependant on HRT, people will make a conscious effort to use alternative therapies.

Case Summary:
The Special Investigations Unit has conducted an in-depth investigation into Premarin in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, Canada, and North Dakota, U.S.A., where Premarin is currently produced. Investigators have acquired hours of video tape depicting foals and mares at slaughter houses, the conditions inside the slaughter houses, the inside of Premarin barns, and foals being sold at auction.
Institutional Animal Abuse – Mares mistreated and neglected
Living Conditions:

At Premarin farms across Canada and North Dakota, mares in their third or fourth month of pregnancy are placed alone in narrow stalls. They are fitted with a short rope or chain, a harness, and a urine collection bag which scrapes their legs, causing sores. As a result of these restrictive devices, the mares can take only a step or two in any direction. They cannot turn around or lie down comfortably. Instead, they are made virtually immobile, for six months out of the year. The investigation reveals:

Premarin broodmares who were forced to lay in their own feces.

• Mares’ sides covered in feces.
• Mares tangled up in the urine collection device (UCD).
• UCD’s covered in feces.
• Numerous instances where the mares had no water.
• Horses outside in temperatures as low as 9° F.
• Mares in obvious pain and discomfort due to hoof neglect.

There have been allegations that Premarin ranchers restrict the amount of water they give to the mares in order to concentrate the estrogens in the urine.

Mares were forced to lie on cold concrete floors. The barns were so cold that ice formed on the inside walls.

Chains were attached to some of the mare’s heads, forcing them to stand in the same position.

Reproduction:

The vast majority of Premarin mares give birth to a foal every year. Afterwards, they are almost immediately impregnated again. If they fail to become pregnant, in most cases they are sent to slaughter. If they do become pregnant again, their foals are taken from them. Most mares do not willingly leave their foals; they are whipped, kicked, or beaten with an electrical prod until they comply.



Foals:

Some of the foals die immediately after birth. The rest are taken from their mothers when they are three to four months old. A few of the females will be raised to be “Premarin mares” and join the production line. Most will be sold and sent to feedlots to be fattened for slaughter.

The foals will then be transported by trailer to slaughterhouses and killed. Their meat will be shipped to Japan, France, or other parts of Asia and Europe for human consumption. Others are shipped live to specialty meat markets in Japan.

Some of the foals fall by the wayside and are discarded by any means available.

Auctions:

Investigators visited several horse auctions in Manitoba and Saskatchewan where Premarin mares and foals were being auctioned off. At one point, our investigators witnessed 24 out of 25 sales at the Winnipeg auction go to killer buyers. At the auctions, investigators witnessed foals still nursing with their mothers, and saw cowboys trying to kick the foals.







Transportation:

Like other “food animals” sent to slaughter, mares and foals are typically deprived of food and water during transport. They do not have an opportunity to rest, nor do they receive veterinary care. Instead, they are transported in overcrowded trailers where the smaller ones, particularly the foals, are sometimes crushed under the larger horses. Those that are too weak to stand and those that have died en route will be dragged off of the truck. Investigators documented foals being loaded onto a livestock truck at the Heartland horse auction in Brandon, Manitoba. The foals were packed into the trucks, squeezed in so tightly that they could not move or turn around, and their heads were smashed between bodies. They appeared to be extremely uncomfortable.



Feedlot:

At the feedlots it was documented that there were injured foals. Also witnessed, were foals still nursing on their mothers and playing with each other, unaware of their fate.



Slaughterhouse:

At the slaughterhouse, there were several Premarin mares with grossly overgrown hooves. The mares appeared to be in some discomfort due to their condition. Also present were several foals that were very thin, including a dead foal and numerous other horses that were sick. One horse had a badly swollen, bulging right eye.

There is documentation of horses that appeared to still be conscious with their legs already cut off. You will see this gruesome footage on the enclosed videotape.

The Law:

Specific laws or government regulations do not apply to the treatment of mares on Premarin farms. Instead, the standard is dictated only by an inadequate code called “Recommended Code of Practice for The Care and Handling of Horses In PMU Operations,” which is poorly enforced. Thus, the horses do not have any legal protection.



Conclusion:

Last Chance for Animals, a national nonprofit animal advocacy organization, is launching a nationwide educational campaign regarding the production of Premarin and the horrible atrocities these animals endure.

It is our opinion that this story deserves to be told, for the sake of the animals, and the millions of women who are currently taking this potentially dangerous prescription drug.



The enclosed videotape provides a detailed account of this situation, with never-before-seen footage of the treatment of these animals.





Exclusive Undercover Video Footage:



LCA acquired hours of video tape that depicts foals being sold at auction, at slaughter houses, the conditions inside the slaughter houses, and the inside of Premarin barns.



This video-tape exposes:

• Slaughtered mare, still alive, hanging from a butcher hook
• Close-up shots of the foals
• Every type of horse used in the Premarin operation
• Inside of the Premarin “pee” barns that show neglected horses, horses lying in their own feces, the apparatus that is used to collect the urine, and the immobilization of the mares on the line
• Empty water bowls inside the barns
• Inside of a barn where the wall is covered with ice
• Outside temperature of the barns (-23°F)
• Unique footage of dirty urine jugs
• Various footage of the outside of Premarin barns
• Wyeth-Ayerst Organics manufacturing plant with the company logo and a Canadian flag
• Scientist working at the Wyeth-Ayerst facility (filmed through a window)
• Tanker truck unloading product at the Wyeth-Ayerst plant
• The auctioning of foals at various Canadian auction houses filmed in September 2002
• One of the most notorious killer buyers purchasing foals and mares at an auction
• Foal nursing on its mother at a horse auction
• A veterinarian conducting a pregnancy-check of a mare. It shows a mare in discomfort and whining as the vet sticks his arm into her vagina; his arm all the way in, up to his shoulder
• Cowboy kicking at a foal
• Very compelling footage of foals that were loaded up into a livestock truck. They are packed in like sardines. The truck is driving down the road with the foals on their way to slaughter
• Shots of a feedlot where foals and mares are sent to be fattened up before slaughter
• Injured foal at the feedlot
• Very compelling footage of a nursing foal with its mother at the feedlot
• Two colts playing at the feedlot, one of the colts has a gash on his side
• Horses at the slaughterhouse corrals. Quarter horse with swollen, bulging eye, Premarin mares with grossly overgrown hooves, good close-up footage of horses and personal shots that are very compelling
• Mares being unloaded at the slaughterhouse from a transport truck <
• A stack of horse pelts
• Inside of a horse slaughterhouse <
• Bullet and casing in the “kill” area near where the horses are stunned
• Slaughterhouse worker, knife in hand, slicing into the horse
• The hanging carcasses of skinned horses
• Meat moving along the conveyor belt
• JAL (Japan Airlines) cargo container, in which the meat is transported
• The lagoons where Wyeth-Ayerst dumps the waste, within 40 yards of the AssiniboineRiver
• Footage depicting Natural Biologics in Albert Lea MN

Wyeth-Ayerst Organics

There is also footage of the Wyeth-Ayerst Organics Premarin manufacturing plant in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. As stated previously, footage was obtained of the lagoons where Wyeth-Ayerst allegedly dumps their by-products, within 40 yards of the AssiniboineRiver. Scientists allege that these by-products are finding their way into the river. The town of Brandon has been called the foulest smelling city in Manitoba, if not all of Canada, due in part to the dumping of Premarin waste products.



Natural Biologics

Natural Biologics is attempting to get FDA approval to produce a generic version of Premarin. They have been collecting approximately 31,000 gallons of horse urine per year since the late 1990’s. They have contracts with approximately 40 operations with about 50 mares per farm located in 6 mid-western states. If the FDA grants them approval, they stand to make several hundred million dollars per year. This approval could come at anytime.



Here are some pics that were on the website again I have a warning..

WARNING: PICTURES ARE VERY GRAPHIC AND CAN POTENTIALLY BE UPSETTING...THEY ARE FOR ME.

Instead of posting them directly on here, I am going to do links incase you dont want to see them, again, I am going to say they are very disturbing, and may be very upsetting.

1) group of foals..not graphic
http://www.lcanimal.org/invest/premarin2.htm

2)Collection Bottles:not graphic but may be a little upsetting..
http://www.lcanimal.org/invest/premarin2.htm

3) Deseaced(sp?)Foal(Warning pertains to this) VERY DISTURBING AND UPSETTING
http://www.lcanimal.org/invest/premarin2.htm

4)AGAIN VERY DISTURBING AND UPSETTING
http://www.lcanimal.org/invest/premarin2.htm

[i_luv_moth]

Its all the same pictures/articles for me but those little foals in the snow

[crazi4horses]

is right! I am beginning to think this wasnt such a good idea for me to do..everytime I look at the pics, and read the info aloud, I tear up...presentation of this reasearch in class should be fun

[thoroughbred_01]

reading this makes my so angry its not fair that foal and mares get treated like this and the people get away with it i can get the pics to work but after reading it im glad

[cowgurly02]

Barns like that are in the VAST minority! Maybe 2%! I worked at one for 4 years and my aunt and uncle OWN one! DO NOT PEG THIS ON ALL BARNS WHEN IN FACT IT IS HARDLY ANY OF THEM. Go to http://www.naeric.org for the TRUTH. It shows all the rules and regulations that the barns must abide and how they are INSPECTED to make sure that the rules are followed.

This site is a bull$hit animal rights activist lying ****. They urine is not collected in "bottles" and the boots they are collected in are very humane and most of the horses don't even notice them. I have NEVER seen urine collected in bottles like that, how would that even work? It doesn't.
As for the vet stuff, THAT'S HOW horses are preg checked for crying out loud. How else do you think they do it? Do you think the vet only does that just for PMU horses? NOPE.

Talk to the majority of other people here who KNOW that 95% of those foals DO NOT go for slaughter. Most are registered, purebred wonderful horses with good blood lines.

[crazi4horses]

I know there are good AND bad farms out there, I have done ALOT of research and I am still collecting information..this particular site is one I went to, and I wanted to post it, I'm sorry. Bad farms may be only 2% of all of them but as you know THEY ARE out there and this one just happened to be one of them. I dont particularly agree with how high of a percentage they say goes to slaughter, but other website I have been to(good ones) have said 60-70% of foals DO go to slaughter...No, maybe not the good farms, but the bad farms, and THAT is what I was posting about.

[cowgurly02]

However a lot of what this site has posted is lies. They don't even have basic facts right, such as the urine being collected in "bottles". I can gaurantee you that NO barn collects in bottles. First off, it's IMPOSSIBLE to collect urine in bottles like that. Secondly, the barn would not be approved if they did.

Those bad barns out there are usually shut right down. You can't hide that much abuse from the inspectors. And this site is saying that all barns are like that.

If you are doing a presentation perhaps you should actually visit a barn and talk to a barn owner/worker and make sure the facts are right. Most of what you find on the web are sites from AR activists that are false. I highly suggest you go http://www.naeric.org and do some research from there. It has the laws and regulations according to PMU barns and lots of other good info.

[crazi4horses]

Thanks for the information/suggestions..sorry if I sort of snapped, but i was in a really bad mood for a few min, and just needed to cool down..thats not really an excuse though. I should have waited to post..

[cowgurly02]

No problem sorry if I sounded a little rude too. I just hate it when people talk about how abusive the PMU industry is when really it isn't. There are a few bad farms out there, but barely any and those are as bad as this site claims are usually caught and shut down. On the site if you click on "About Us" on the top and then "Visit an Equine Farm" it takes you through a cool slide show that sums up all the laws and regulations and stuff. You should be able to get a good presentation about the laws and the good farms from it

[crazi4horses]

Thank you...and do you mind if sometime I interview you on it? My teacher said I should interview someone also, but i dont really know who! I dont have anything yet(?'s and stuff) but when i get them, do you mind?