4/14/10-4/16/10 Equi Transfer Facility, Summerfield, FL
This “Equine Transfer” facility uses “surrogate” mares to carry foals for expensive mares. Embryos are transferred and implanted into the “surrogate” mares who then carry and give birth to the foals. In 2008, over 100 of these mares died here as a result of an apparent Botulism poisoning tied to the forage they were fed.
The owners of the facility very recently declared bankruptcy (March 2010) and reduced their herd from 900 surrogate mares to 300. Animals’ Angels has reliable information showing that horses from this facility are sold for slaughter. The Stanley Brothers, familiar to many because of recent investigations involving injured horses in their care in Louisiana, are involved in the slaughter trade of these horses.
Conditions for “surrogate” mares are surprisingly poor. Expensive client horses graze on 87 acres of green pastures, but the majority of the 300 surrogates are kept on a barren dirt feedlot. These horses are branded with a large “ET” and numbers. Several are thin. A neighbor tells investigators that he has observed dead horses being pushed out of the lot with a front loader. Animals’ Angels will continue to investigate.