‘LUCRATIVE’ BUSINESS
Animal welfare activists see red over southern Iceland's blood mares
On an autumn day on a lush green prairie, more than a dozen pregnant mares are waiting to be bled for the last time in 2022. This “blood farm” near Selfoss in southern Iceland is collecting blood from pregnant horses raised for the sole purpose of extracting a special hormone used in the veterinary industry.
The practice has had animal welfare groups up in arms ever since a shocking video of horses in Iceland being maltreated emerged on YouTube in 2021.
People working in the industry now insist on anonymity when speaking to the media.
“There is no way we can make the public understand completely this kind of farming,” says the 56-year-old owner of the farm near Selfoss.
“The public in general is too sensitive.”
At farms like this one, several liters of blood are collected from each horse in order to extract the PMSG hormone (Pregnant mare serum gonadotropin), also known as eCG, produced naturally by pregnant mares.
Sold by the veterinary industry, farmers use the hormone to improve the fertility of other livestock like cows, ewes and sows around the world.
The foals are meanwhile usually sent to the slaughterhouse.
Iceland is one of the rare countries – and the only one in Europe – to carry out the controversial practice, along with Argentina and Uruguay, and to a lesser extent Russia and Mongolia.
The video published in 2021 showed farmhands beating and prodding horses with sticks, dogs sometimes biting horses, and the horses weakened after giving blood.
Some of the horses could be seen collapsing from exhaustion after struggling against the restraints in their boxes. The video caused a shockwave, both abroad and in Iceland.
At the farm near Selfoss, the mares stand in single file in a special wooden structure, waiting patiently for their turn to enter a box.
Planks are placed around their legs to prevent them from moving and a halter is put on their head to hold it up.
“The horses... can get stressed, agitated. All these restraints are basically to protect them” so they don’t get hurt in the box, said a 29-year-old Polish veterinarian, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
A local anesthetic is first administered, then a large needle is injected into the jugular vein.
Only a certified veterinarian is authorized to carry out the procedure.
The halter “allows us to see the vein properly because we need to know exactly where it is,” he added.
Up to five liters of blood are drawn from e just a few minutes, in an operation they und for eight weeks.
The blood collection, carried out from the until early October, is profitable: the 56-yearthe operation near Selfoss – who also works – makes up to 10 million kronur ($70,000) the business.
“In many cases, the mares show signs of discomfort during the blood collection,” says Bjornsdottir, a horse specialist at the Iceland and Veterinary Authority (MAST).
But “this is not considered a serious chan condition] unless the symptoms are severe, e the mare shows signs of chronic stress.”
In 2021, Iceland had 119 blood farms and 5,400 mares raised for the sole purpose of g figure that has more than tripled in the past
The PMSG hormone is turned into a pow dic biotech group Isteka, the biggest produce handling around 170 tons of blood per year.
The figure is likely to be lower in 2022 af versial video prompted some farmers to quit amid concerns about animal welfare activist
“Farmers were severely hit and shocked b said Isteka managing director Arnthor Gudl a statement.
While he acknowledged there were proble cases, Gudlaugsson said the video, filmed w a hidden camera, was designed “to give an overly negative description of the process.”
The video did lead to a police investigation and the farms featured were identified.
“This makes us think about where we stand in our ethics. To make a fertility drug that is used on farm animals ..., just so that we can have a stable flow of cheap pork ... The cause is not noble.”
Rosa Lif Darradottir Vice Chair of Animal Welfare Iceland
MAST inspected all of Iceland’s blood farms in 2022’s summer and “no serious deviations” were observed, and none were ordered to shut down.
The scandal has also sparked debate in Iceland, where most inhabitants learned about the practice for the first time even though it has been going on since 1979.
“This makes us think about where we stand in our ethics,” Vice Chair of Animal Welfare Iceland, Rosa Lif Darradottir, told AFP.
“To make a fertility drug that is used on farm animals ... to enhance their fertility beyond their natural capacity, just so that we can have a stable flow of cheap pork ... The cause is not noble,” she said.
Opponents also criticize the amount of blood collected. “It’s purely and simply maltreatment of animals and we have a word for that: animal cruelty,” said opposition MP Inga Saeland, who has repeatedly proposed a ban on the practice, to no avail.
Stricter regulations did, however, enter into force in August, giving authorities more power to monitor the industry and “assess its future” over the next three years.