What is PMU? PMU means Pregnant Mare Urine. The estrogens extracted from the urine of pregnant mares have been used for decades by the pharmaceutical giant Wyeth to produce the women's hormone replacement therapy drugs Premarin and Prempro, among others.The foals are the by-product. The pregnant mares are attached to urine collection devices connected to the ceiling in large barns for about eight months out of each year.Around April they are let out of the barns to foal.Before the foals are weaned the mares are rebred.When the foals are weaned the ones who do not have private buyers are sent to auction and nearly certain death at the hands of slaughterhouses.The mares are brought back into the barns for the winter and reattached to the urine-collection apparatuses, and the cycle continues.
Some of the fillies are kept for replacements on the "pee lines" because, when the mares are too old to reproduce they too are sent to slaughter.
Since there are approximately 6000 foals born each spring, there are not nearly enough private buyers for all of them. Most of the babies face an uncertain future at auction and feedlots.
What is the purpose of New Hope?
Our focus is rescuing horses in need to get them out of harm's way, rehabilitating them if needed, and finding loving homes for them. Also, we will be promoting adoptions and assisting with hauling in some cases. We are dedicated to finding safe, loving homes for horses at risk. We see the senseless, tragic, brutal slaughter of healthy and sound horses, pregnant mares and mares with foals by their sides, weanlings and yearlings of all types and colors, as well as sick, injured and deformed horses who deserve humane euthanasia. And we need to do whatever we can to make a difference.
Where does my donation money go?
Every dollar that is donated will go into the rescue and care of the horses that come to NHER. Since everyone involved with running and maintaining NHER are volunteers, no one takes any of the donor's money whatsoever for personal use. Also, each donor may specify what specific purpose he/she wishes the donation be used for.
NHER is a nonprofit 501(c)3 charitable organization, and all donations are tax-deductible.