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CLOUDY Temp: 61 °F Wind: WNW at 5 mph Monday, September 29, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine Joy Magazine Tempo A & E RogueValleyAutoFinder RogueValleyHomeFinder Real Estate Showcase Wellness Connection Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Employment Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend September 8, 2003 Woman joins effort to rescue doomed foals By SANNE SPECHT Mail Tribune A Central Point woman is making a plea to help rescue Canadian foals scheduled for slaughter — the expendable byproduct of harvesting the drug Premarin. Laura Ormsby said anyone who has the desire and the $1,000 necessary to rescue a foal needs to act fast. "There are thousands of them ... scheduled to be slaughtered the last two weeks of September," said Ormsby. "But they can be adopted by people. They can be shipped to Medford." Millions of women take the drug Premarin to control symptoms of menopause. Many don’t know that the name of the drug is an anagram of its key ingredient: pregnant mare urine. Advertisement Most don’t know the pregnant mares are hooked by a catheter to machines which harvest their urine. They also don’t know that 80 to 90 percent of the 50,000 to 60,000 foals born every year to these mares are killed as another cash crop — meat. Ormsby didn’t start out looking for facts about PMU farms, she said. She merely wanted to buy a dressage horse for her 46th birthday and, after checking locally, began searching the Internet for some options. She came across two organizations who are involved in PMU foal rescue: Ransom Ranch and United Pegasus Foundation. The single working mother said she was shocked to learn months-old foals were being killed as a byproduct of prescription-drug manufacturing. "I know there are some things you can fight in this world and a drug company isn’t on my list," said Ormsby. "The asset is the urine. The mare is the factory. And the resulting foals are nothing more than a liability." She is adopting two foals and is searching for others in the area who will do the same before the foals are sent to "the meat wagon." "Most farmers sell to slaughter," Ormsby said of PMU farms. "It’s much less hassle and the same money." Foals, particularly the colts, used to be killed at birth. But pressure from animal rights organizations has forced some change in the $800 million industry. Farmers are no longer allowed to withhold water from the mares to concentrate the urine. They also are now required to pasture the mares and allow them to foal in a field and raise their foals for a minimum of three months — basically a summer of freedom for mare and foal. There reportedly are about 450 PMU farms in the northern United States and Canada. Many must lease the legally required summer pasture from other landowners — such as Abe Phillips and Christine Rae of Ransom Ranch in Nanaimo, British Columbia. A PMU farmer spied Phillips’ draft stallion and his acreage and asked if he could lease Phillips’ land to pasture his mares. The farmer, like many PMU manufacturers, wanted to breed his mares with a draft horse because bigger mares have bigger bladders and bigger foals bring in higher-per-pound prices. The PMU farmer agreed to sell some of the foals to rescuers to offset costs of leasing the land. Rae is coordinating the rescue of the foals with a Californian named Victoria Liou-Dompe who created the Ransom Ranch Web site. "Victoria is the technical buyer of them all," said Rae. "She collects the money and we (Rae and Phillips) will quarantine, halter-break, Coggins (disease) test, brand-inspect and transport the foals." At the end of September, Rae said the unnamed PMU farmer will send any unsold colts to the slaughterhouse. "He (the PMU farmer) doesn’t take them to auction. He sells them to the meat truck," said Rae. And, Ormsby said, the cycle will start over. "It’s nine months of hell for the mares (being hooked up to catheters) and it’s all over for the foals," said Ormsby. Ormsby said Phillips will pick up the adopted foals in his truck and trailer on Sept. 15. He will be in Medford within a few weeks. Ormsby will soon have her two new dressage prospects on her nine acres, and she said she’ll begin planning rescues for next summer’s crop. "I don’t want to see any more of them go to slaughter. I know there are 60,000. I just saved two." Those interested in PMU foal adoption may contact Ormsby at 951-3647 or 826-7826 or go to www.ransomranch.com or www.unitedpegasus.com to see some of the foals available. Reach reporter Sanne Specht at 776-4497 or e-mail [email protected] . Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Rogue Valley Auto Finder Rogue Valley Job Finder --> Rogue Valley Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times