Good News For Horse Rescues

Free Vaccines for Some Unwanted Horses
by: Press Release
December 09 2008, Article # 13238
Print Email NEW! Add to Favorites RSS ShareThis
Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Dec. 8 unveiled the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign (UHVRC), a nonprofit program that will provide free equine vaccines to qualified equine rescue and retirement facilities across the United States.

"At Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health, we are committed to helping unwanted horses across America by providing struggling equine rescue and retirement facilities with the equine vaccines they need to improve the health and welfare of the horse," says Cynthia Gutierrez, DVM, Equine Technical Services Veterinarian for Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health. "We have chosen to demonstrate this commitment by teaming up with the AAEP to establish the UHVRC to help make unwanted horses more adoptable and the rescues less burdened."

Through the UHVRC, Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health will donate equine vaccines to qualifying equine rescue and retirement facilities to provide healthcare so they can rehabilitate, revitalize, and, ultimately, re-home America's unwanted horses.

Equine rescue and retirement facilities will be selected to receive complimentary equine vaccines based on the completed application, compliance with the AAEP Care Guidelines for Rescue and Retirement Facilities, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, their need, the potential impact on horses' lives and the professional manner in which the facility is managed.

How To Get Involved

AAEP-member veterinarians can work with equine rescue and retirement facilities to receive complimentary Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health equine vaccines. The AAEP-member veterinarian and equine rescue and retirement facility work together to submit an application, the facilities checklist and the equine vaccine order form. Only facilities that follow the AAEP Care Guidelines for Equine Rescue and Retirement Facilities and have a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status will qualify for the program. Equine rescue and retirement facilities or veterinarians can download an application form, the AAEP Care Guidelines, and learn more at www.UHVRC.org.

Three of Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health's equine vaccines are available through the UHVRC program: PreveNile West Nile virus vaccine; EquiRab rabies vaccine; and Prestige V (KY93, KY02 and NM2/93 flu strains, EHV-1, EHV-4, EEE, WEE, and tetanus).

Veterinarians Making a Difference

"The horses and rescues need help. Through the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign, veterinarians now have the opportunity to make a difference by working with equine rescue and retirement facilities to receive complimentary vaccinations for the unwanted horses in their care," says AAEP President Eleanor Green, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM. "This program exemplifies the AAEP's ongoing commitment to issues that surround the care of unwanted horses in the United States."

A portion of all Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health equine vaccine sales beginning Dec. 1, 2008, will support the program in the future. The UHVRC will accept qualified applicants beginning Jan. 1, 2009.

To learn more about Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health's full line of innovative, high-quality equine health products, visit www.intervetusa.com.

About AAEP

The American Association of Equine Practitioners, headquartered in Lexington, Ky., was founded in 1954 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the health and welfare of the horse. Currently, the AAEP reaches more than 5 million horse owners through its nearly 10,000 members worldwide and is actively involved in ethics issues, practice management, research and continuing education in the equine veterinary profession and horse industry.

About Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health

Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health is focused on the research, development, manufacturing, and marketing of animal health products. The company offers customers one of the broadest, most innovative animal-health portfolios, spanning products to support performance and to prevent, treat, and control disease in all major farm and companion-animal species. The company is based in Boxmeer, The Netherlands.

Schering-Plough is an innovation-driven, science-centered global health care company. Through its own biopharmaceutical research and collaborations with partners, Schering-Plough creates therapies that help save and improve lives around the world. The company applies its research-and-development platform to human prescription and consumer products as well as to animal health products. Schering-Plough's vision is to "Earn Trust, Every Day" with the doctors, patients, customers, and other stakeholders served by its colleagues around the world. The company is based in Kenilworth, N.J., and its Web site is www.schering-plough.com.

More information on the UHVRC will be coming soon.