In the evening, we meet with Alberto Jerez (name changed), an employee of the Spanish timber company Los Eucaliptus SA that leases land to Fernando Perdigón. Alberto is responsible of the eucalyptus plantations at the estancia “Don Alcides”. He explains that the mares were brought there mid-July of this year. It attracted his attention that they…

In the afternoon, we return to the estancia “Don Alcides” where Perdigón keeps some of his mares in large eucalyptus plantations. A pick-up truck with horse trailer is parked on the road near the farmhouse. We start a conversation with the man who is standing by the trailer and find out that he is not involved in the blood business. He is here with…

We return to the blood farm of Fernando Perdigón in the hinterland of Maldonado. On the way there, we see groups of horses grazing on forest clearings. Among the mares, there are also a few stallions. Spring is the time of the year when the mares are covered. The new extraction season is about to start and some mares already look pregnant. We note…

In the early morning, two gauchos on horseback move about 200 horses from the pastures into the holding pens of the blood farm. Another worker is observed hanging empty blood bags over a fence to dry. At 8:35, three employees start moving horses from the holding pens towards the building, using wooden sticks. They are hitting the horses repeatedly,…

At 8:00 in the morning, two gauchos on horseback arrive at the blood farm, herding 30 to 40 horses. Shortly after, two employees are observed moving the horses from the holding pens into the raceway leading to the extraction building. One of them is waving a long stick with a white flag on the end and the other a stick with a plastic bag attached.…

Today we return to the estancia “Las Marquesas” of Fernando Perdigón to conduct further observations on the pastures. Our first sight are three heavily pregnant mares crossing the road. They have yellow tags around their necks. We assume that these mares are used for breeding to ensure a supply of young mares for PMSG production.

Most horses we…

Today we meet in Brussels with Vytenis Andriukaitis, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety. Members of his Cabinet and representatives of DG SANTE (Directorate General for Health and Food Safety) and DG TRADE also attend the meeting. We present the findings of our investigations about the production of blood serum in Uruguay and…

A camera installed inside the lairage area of Syntex has recorded five hours of the blood drawing process, from 8:00 to 13:00. The video footage shows that the blood is taken from the mares during 10 minutes. Approx. 8 to 10 litres of blood can be taken in 10 minutes. When the extraction is finished, the workers pull out the drain tube forcefully…

When we arrive at the Syntex farm at 21:30, it is already pitch-black. There are a lot of lights on, but all is quiet. The lairage area, where the blood is taken from the mares, is empty. There are approx. 14 individual stalls made of wood and alleys leading up to them. In the covered passageway between the stalls and the office/laboratory…