Home
   
   
   
   
   
 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

For the Horse Lover

Stop Horse Slaughter Today

PMU (PREgnant MAre urINe)

The Past

Since the early 1940's, the urine of pregnant mares has been processed into drugs used to treat menopausal symptoms in women. One such hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drug, Wyeth-Ayerst's Premarin was the most poplular drug in America between 1975 and 1999, with approximately nine million women taking Premarin prescriptions.

To manufacture the estrogen replacement pills, 40,000 to 60,000 mares were employed at over 425 Canadian and Northern "PMU" (Pregnant Mare Urine) farms. In the spring, the mares are turned out to pasture in small herds with a stallion; and by October they are pregnant. The mares spend the winter in "pee barns" hooked up to a urine collection system. They stand in small stalls with little exercise for 5-7 months, have their babies and then released to the pasture, where they begin the process all over again. Some lucky foals born of this process find homes through the efforts of industry related marketing and independent rescue organizations(read about a young fillies rescue story). But the fate of the vast majority of both foals and mares that have outlived their usefulness can include being sent to auction yards, feedlots, and even slaughterhouses that ship the trendy horsemeat to Europe and Japan.

 
The Present

Beginning in 2001, several research studies by the Women's Health Initiative alerted the Public that women taking Premarin and its sister drug Prempro had an increased risk of breast cancer, heart attack, stroke, Alzheimers Disease, and demetia. The studies also found the breast cancer in women taking Estrogen-progesterone pills may be harder to detect and more aggressive. In response to the news, new monthly Premarin and Prempro prescriptions plummeted more than forty percent in just a year and a half.

In October of 2003, in response to the changing market conditions, Wyeth announced to a group of Manitoba-based PMU ranches that the decreased demand for Premarin means a fifty percent reduction in Wyeth's required number of mares. And in early spring of 2004, thousands of out-of-work, pregnant mares will foal - doubling the number of horses in need of new homes and otherwise destined for slaughter or other inhumane situations.

The Future

While the decline in the PMU industry is good news for horses and equine lovers, the mares and their coming foals desperately need new homes. As panicking ranchers face uncertain financial futures, the United Animal Nations (UAN) has already heard of private slaughter auctions taking place in northern Manitoba where semi-truck loads of horses are being carried off to a grim fate. Many PMU ranchers want to do right by their horses. But finding a good home for their mares and foals can be difficult - especially from Northern Canada during the winter. How will the adopting public know about their horses?

PMURescue.org is the United Animal Nations' contribution to provide a humane alternative for PMU horses. By creating this porthole website that enables both rescuer and ranchers to post adoptable PMU horses on the Internet, UAN hopes that these wonderful, deserving horses will find refuge in good homes. UAN is offering the use of PMURescue.org to ranches and rescue groups free of charge.

Be sure to visit PMURescue.org and spread the word about this websites availability to horse lovers everywhere.

Also visit the below site:

 

 

 
InformByWeb