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For about 40 years, blood has been drawn from pregnant mares on blood farms in Uruguay to obtain the fertility hormone PMSG (Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin). The hormone is used in industrial animal breeding – in Europe mainly in so-called «breeding» sows. 

Horse cruelty on Uruguayan blood farms:
Up to ten litres of blood are drawn from the mares once or twice a week. The procedure is cruel. The mares are semi-wild, not used to human handling. They are forced into the restraint boxes and tied up. There, a large-bore cannula is inserted into their jugular vein. Beatings on the head and body as well as stabbing into their genitals with sticks are intended to make the panicked mares obedient. Falls and massive injuries occur over and over again.

The high blood loss leads to severe emaciation and deficiency symptoms as well as increased susceptibility to infections. However, the many injured, sick, and weakened mares remain untreated. No money is spent on veterinary care. Profit takes precedence over animal welfare. The foals are an unwanted by-product of the blood collection. They are manually aborted. About 30 % of mares drop out of the process every year. Many of them die left to their own devices on scarce pastures or are sold to EU-certified slaughterhouses as they have become "useless".   

Animal suffering also among pigs in Europe:
PMSG is used on large scale in industrial piglet farms. The aim is to get all mother sows pregnant at the same time so that the further processes fit into the industrial cycle: birth, fattening, slaughter. The consequences are no secret: oversized litters result in piglets being born dead or subsequently starving to death, because the mother sow cannot feed them all. Images of piglets beaten to death on such breeding farms are well known. 

PMSG is a cruel hormone. For the mares in Uruguay and for the pigs in Europe. 

PMSG does not need to be used in pig breeding. Organic piglet farms, for example, rely on hormone-free alternative methods with which they control the sows’ oestrus.

Abuses known since 2015:
Since 2015, the German NGO Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF) has been exposing the abuses on Uruguayan blood farms. The pharmaceutical companies MSD, CEVA and IDT have stopped their PMSG imports from South America due to the cruel production. Now it is time that those responsible in Uruguay also show that they care more about the welfare of the horses than the financial interests of a few blood farmers.

There is only one solution – the closure of all blood farms in Uruguay:
We call on you, dear President Yamandú Orsi, to end the production of the cruel hormone PMSG in Uruguay. It damages Uruguay's reputation as a nature and horse-loving country. 

Supporting organisations: 
Anima, Denmark
Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF), Germany
Animales sin Hogar, Uruguay
Animals’ Angels Inc., USA
Canadian Horse Defence Coalition, Canada
Dier&Recht, Netherlands
Dyrenes Beskyttelse/Animal Protection Denmark, Denmark
Dublin SPCA, Ireland
Fundación Franz Weber, Spain/Argentina
Green REV Institute, Poland
IHP Italian Horse Protection Onlus, Italy
Montevideo Horse Save, Uruguay
Tierschutzbund Zürich (TSB), Switzerland
Trato Etico Animal, Uruguay
WELFARM – Protection mondiale des animaux de ferme, France