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At the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, we meet with Professor Dr. Ricardo Sienra, director of the Technical Group for Animal Welfare, and Jorge Armstrong, deputy director of the Animal Industry Division. They cannot tell us how many companies and farms are involved in the blood business. They say that the blood serum is exported…

When we arrive at the collecting station of horse dealer Riccetto at 18:30, there is only one horse in the holding pens. We guess that he must keep more horses at another place, being one of Clay’s largest suppliers. We drive around and look foranother field with horses, but without success. When we return to his collecting station at 19:00, a…

We drive to the new blood farm of Fernando Perdigón in the Department Maldonado. On the way there, we find groups of mares in forest clearings. They are dull, abused, their bodies covered in scars from the beatings. Some have identification tags around their necks. Their tails are not trimmed, indicating they are not yet in the production. Others…

We drive to the new blood farm of Fernando Perdigón in the Department Maldonado. On the way there, we find groups of mares in forest clearings. They are dull, abused, their bodies covered in scars from the beatings. Some have identification tags around their necks. Their tails are not trimmed, indicating they are not yet in the production. Others…

We drive to the new blood farm of Fernando Perdigón in the Department Maldonado. On the way there, we find groups of mares in forest clearings. They are dull, abused, their bodies covered in scars from the beatings. Some have identification tags around their necks. Their tails are not trimmed, indicating they are not yet in the production. Others…

We drive to the new blood farm of Fernando Perdigón in the Department Maldonado. On the way there, we find groups of mares in forest clearings. They are dull, abused, their bodies covered in scars from the beatings. Some have identification tags around their necks. Their tails are not trimmed, indicating they are not yet in the production. Others…

We drive to the new blood farm of Fernando Perdigón in the Department Maldonado. On the way there, we find groups of mares in forest clearings. They are dull, abused, their bodies covered in scars from the beatings. Some have identification tags around their necks. Their tails are not trimmed, indicating they are not yet in the production. Others…

Today we meet with two informants who have been investigating the blood business in Uruguay for six months. They show us a forest clearing where they discovered many bones and a dead mare in September 2014. The pasture belonged to the nearby estancia “Don Ramon”. There, the veterinarians Fernando Perdigón and Gabriel Maruri produced, until…

Last week, we visited the collecting station of slaughter horse dealer Bardanca in the north of Uruguay. He told us that he also keeps horses at another farm near Mercedes in the west of the country. Bardanca supplies all three EU approved slaughterhouses with horses and is one of Clay’s main suppliers.When we arrive in Mercedes, we ask around for…