:: Crying real tears ::

I'm shocked. Shocked almost speechless actually, and for those of you who know me, you know that's tough to do. Shocked and I have cried more than a few real tears this morning, because of what I discovered is happening here in Canada.

This morning, as usual, before starting work, I sat down with my cup of coffee in my office to read the morning paper. As a general rule, now that I live near Montreal, I read the Montreal Gazette, a paper not normally known for its treatment of animal rights.

Given what happened in Spain yesterday, the front page portion of this PMU animal issue story was relegated to a small bottom sidebar with a small photo. I noticed it but the copy wasn't compelling so I read it and kept browsing the front section. Then, on page A10, I came across the full story.

It is called "Adopt a Horse, stop its slaughter". I'd link to it here if it were possible but the Gazette only puts the most important news (per their decision of what's important) up on their site. However, here's a related story I found on MSNBC about the same thing in the US, all caused by the same pharmaceutical company, Wyeth.

The gist of the story is this - over 20,000 Canadian horses (with many more in the US), many of them pregnant, risk being sent to slaughterhouses and turned into horse meat for sale overseas because the ranchers that own them no longer need their urine for the pharmaceutical hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) market. All of these horses in Canada and the US were used as the key producers of the key ingredient for the HRT industry, pregnant mare urine (PMU). The HRT industry has undergone a serious downturn in the last year due to new medical information about HRT, with demand for HRT drugs dropping over 40%. This has prompted a severe production cutback by the pharma company, which, in turn, has hit the ranchers who kept these horses in factory situations. These ranchers now want to get rid of these money-losing horses and move on to other financial pursuits.

The woman featured in the story, Barbara Claussen, is trying to get as many of these horses adopted as possible by non-kill buyers. Given that the western Canada market is now reaching an adoption saturation point, she is trying to bring as many as possible to the Maritime provinces or is trying to compensate the ranchers while she tries to get them transported to recreation-oriented horse auctions in Canada and the US.

For more information on her efforts specifically, please visit her site and read through it carefully. Googling the issue shows that Barbara isn't alone in her efforts -- I got over 3000 hits on my initial search.

But I'm not posting just to alleviate my shock. I want to do something.

I grew up out west and spent tons of time on my family's wheat farms. There were always horses about for riding and just watching play in the fields. I was a horse mad little girl, like many girls. I might be all grown up, but I still have a large soft spot for horses. Soft enough that if I had the space, I'd adopt a few of these beautiful tragic animals myself.

Unfortunately, hubby and I didn't buy that large acreage up north like we'd dreamed about. Practical employment concerns forced us into the suburbs. However, I'll be donating whatever dollars I can to the cause, and I will do what I can to raise awareness of the plight of these animals in Canada and the US.

So...if you are reading this and you have a more influential and well-read blog than mine, could you consider doing a post about this issue and the plight of these horses? Tell your friends and family members. Spread the word.

I've sent Barbara an email suggesting she set up a free Paypal account. Thus, perhaps another way to help would be to put up a Paypal button on your blog to request donations to Barbara's non-profit organization.

In the interim, until she decides if she will follow through on my suggestions, if you have some money you want to give to this cause, send Barbara an email or call her.