On this autumn morning, in a vast green meadow in southern Iceland, about fifteen pregnant mares wait before being bled for the last period of the year. A practice that makes animal defenders jump.
Near Selfoss, a “blood farm” collects a blood hormone used by the veterinary industry from horses.
Since the abusive videos came out on YouTube a year ago, the industry has been targeted and anonymity required when it comes to talking to the press.
“There is no way to make the public fully understand this type of breeding“, the local boss explains to AFP, fatalistic.”The general public is too sensitive“.
Blood collection – several liters per animal – aims at extract the equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG or PMSG), a hormone produced naturally by pregnant mares.
Packaged and then marketed by the veterinary industry, it allowsimprove fertility in other farm animals (cows, sheep, sows …) all over the world. The foals are mostly sent to the slaughterhouse.
SHOCKING IMAGES
Together with Argentina and Uruguay, Iceland is one of the few countries in the world and the only one in Europe, where this controversial practice takes place. Farms are also reported Russia, in Mongolia It’s inside Chinese.
The images broadcast last year of weakened and dependent horses brutalizing the mares caused shockwaves abroad but also on the island.
Struck, sometimes bitten by dogs, some horses struggle to exhaustion.
On the farm near Selfoss, grouped in single file in a specially equipped wooden structure, the mares wait calmly.
Each in turn, they enter the boxes. The planks are arranged around the legs to prevent any movement, then a halter is placed on the head to lift it.
“Horses (…) can be stressed, agitated. So all these restrictions basically serve to protect them and prevent them from getting hurt in the box.“, Explains a 29-year-old Polish veterinarian, also on condition of anonymity.
A local anesthesia is performed first before introducing a large cannula into the jugular vein. Gestures that only a qualified veterinarian is authorized to perform.
“It also allows us to see the vein clearly because we need to know exactly where it is (…) to inject accurately“, He adds.
In a few minutes, up to five liters of blood are collected by sea in this operation which will be repeated every week for eight weeks.
PROFITABLE ACTIVITY
The business, which runs from late July to early October, is profitable: the Icelandic operator of Selfoss, also a lawyer, withdraws from 9 to 10 million crowns (between 63,500 and 70,700 euros) per year.
“In many cases, mares show signs of short-term discomfort when taking blood“Says Sigrídur Björnsdóttir, equine specialist at the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST).
More “this is not considered serious injury unless symptoms are severe, prolonged or the mare shows signs of chronic stress“.
In 2021, Iceland had 119 blood farms is near 5,400 pregnant mares bred for the sole purpose of being bleda figure that has more than tripled in ten years.
The eCG / PMSG hormone is processed into a powder by the Icelandic company Isteka.
The largest producer in Europe, biotechnology processes around 170 tons of blood per year. Probably less this year: after the publication of the videos, some operators have left the profession.
“Farmers were hit hard and shocked“Isteka CEO Arnthor Gudlaugsson complains from his offices in Reykjavik.
If he recognizes problematic cases, Mr. Gudlaugsson believes the video, shot with a hidden camera, was designed. “give too negative a description (…) of the process“.
The images however led to the opening of an investigation by the police and made it possible to identify the farms involved.
All farms were inspected this summer without anyone being forced to close.
The scandal also sparked a debate in Iceland where most people discovered the existence of this activity, which has been practiced locally since 1979.
“It makes us reflect on our position in terms of ethics“Rosa Lif Darradottir, vice president of the newest association for animal welfare in Iceland, explains to AFP.
“Making a drug (for) production animals just to increase their fertility beyond their natural capabilities … The cause is not noble“, she says.
The amount of blood collected is also indicated.
“This is pure and simple animal abuse and we have a word for it: animal cruelty“Opposition MP Inga Sæland told AFP, at the origin of a proposal for a ban that has been rejected several times.
New, stricter rules came into effect at the beginning of August. Valid for three years, it should allow the authorities to decide on the future of the “blood fields”.
