A peek into Manitoba farms that produce pregnant mare’s urine has left an American horse abuse investigator shocked by what she found at both ends of the spectrum.
And it has left a PMU spokesperson questioning her accuracy.
“We found a couple who let us in and I couldn’t believe the contrast,” said Robin Theresa Ducksbury-Russell.
“One was a biological cesspool. But in another, half of the horses were out getting exercised and then the others were going to be going.”
Ducksbury-Russell, who works with the Denver, Colorado-based national horse protection agency Project Equus, was in Manitoba collecting film for a documentary on the PMU industry.
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Most producers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba sell the urine they collect to Ayerst Organics in Brandon. The parent company, Wyeth-Ayerst International, uses the urine to make Premarin, a hormone drug used in birth control pills and for meno-pausal women.
Some opened doors
Ducksbury-Russell said she and her videographer were turned away by several operators, but a few let them in.
In one operation, she said it appeared the horses were rarely taken off the line for exercise.
“Some of these horses are not getting out of these barns,” she said, adding she saw cases of animals with deformed hoofs.
A spokesperson for the industry said Ducksbury-Russell’s claims cannot be trusted.
“They’re the same tired old false claims that animal rights activists have circulated time and time again,” said Norm Luba, with the North American Equine Ranching Information Council, which speaks for the PMU industry.
“I doubt the authenticity of her statement,” Luba said, describing Ducksbury-Russell as a known animal rights activist who uses aliases in her work with the movement.
“She has put out anti-PMU information previously and she in our opinion is not an objective reviewer.”
Ducksbury-Russell said the video will tell both sides of the PMU debate.
“We’re planning to give equal time to both sides and I think Norm Luba missed a golden opportunity to tell their side of the story,” she said, adding Luba refused to grant her an interview or a tour through Ayerst’s operation in Brandon.
“Quite honestly, the act of collecting urine is not that bad, but we also have some issues with the surplus of foals created as a result of this industry going to these feedlots.”
Luba said none of the 265 ranchers who contract with Ayerst Organics and are represented by NAERIC called to say the video crew would be touring their barns.
