AR-News: [CA]Animal rights: Partial victory claimed in the fight over PMU

[Sinikka Crosland]

Animal rights: Partial victory claimed in the fight over PMU
     
      Animal rights groups are claiming a victory after hearing a number of farms that have horses for the production of pregnant mare urine have closed down. Capital News file 
By Marshall Jones, staff reporter 

Capital News, Kelowna, B.C., Sunday, February 22, 2004  

Groups fighting pharmaceutical giant Wyeth-Ayerst's treatment of animals are claiming a partial victory in their bid to shut down the pregnant mare urine (PMU) industry. 

Premarin, a drug made from the estrogen-rich urine collected from pregnant horses, has seen huge declines in recent months based on studies linking hormone replacement therapy to breast cancer. Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba farms producing the PMU have been slashed by two-thirds in the past year. 

Animal rights groups, based in large part in Kelowna, have criticized the industry which has created a huge surplus of horses which are later sold at rock-bottom prices for their meat to make feed. 

Sinikka Crosland, spokesperson for The Responsible Animal Care Society in Kelowna, says PMU farm closures is a mixed blessing. 

"It is a victory in the long-term sense in that they are closing down and when it dwindles there won't be the huge amount of horses and foals coming on the market," she said. 

"But so many of them are being displaced right now and so many more of them going to slaughter." 

Crosland and Ray Kellosalmi have been rescuing as many of the foals as they could afford for years. They make long treks across the country to buy the horses at auction and adopt them out. 

With urine barns being closed, the stock is all heading to auction and the pressure is on to save as many of the horses as they can. 

Another 11 horses have been bought and are due to arrive in Kelowna before next week. TRACS is trying to adopt the foals out to people who can give them good homes. If you would like to apply to adopt the horses, call Crosland at 768-4803. 

mjones at kelownacapnews.com 






---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.581 / Virus Database: 368 - Release Date: 2/9/04
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/attachments/20040223/82db1df0/attachment.html