College of Agriculture
Veterinary Science	Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome Index Page
Keeneland Session

Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome

Communications Summary
May 24, 2001

Dr. Carla G. Craycraft
Director
University of Kentucky College of Agriculture
Agricultural Communications Services

  (Click here for audio briefing)
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• The major role of the communications group has been to provide timely and accurate information to a wide variety of people, including horse farm owners and managers, equine practitioners, the concerned public and media.  Professionals from the UK Agricultural Communications Services, UK Public Relations, Department of Veterinary Science, Department of Animal Sciences, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club, Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, Keeneland Association, Kentucky Association of Equine Practitioners and others as needed, have worked closely as a team throughout the past several weeks.

• A Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome (MRLS) web-site was immediately established as the most efficient method to disseminate information to a wide audience in a timely fashion. Daily briefings, reports from the UK Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center, daily farm manager reports from the field, information from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture along with additional information as available is posted. Most information is provided in text and audio formats to provide media with a wide array of options for using the information. As of this morning, there have been over 15,000 visitors since May 8th.

• A broadcast faxing system was set up from the UK Veterinary Science Department main office to send the daily briefing report to equine practitioners as soon as the briefing was approved for posting. The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association also set up a broadcast fax system for horse owners/ managers without Internet access. The Kentucky Department of Agriculture set up communications with other state veterinarian offices and posting of information to the web-site.

• A central call-in telephone line was established at UK for horse owners, media and others with comments or suggestions about MRLS. Dr. Bob Coleman and Dr. Laurie Lawrence, both from the UK Animal Science Department, are coordinating those efforts. Hundreds of calls have been taken, and responses given.

• Since May 8th UK Agricultural Communications Services has responded to nearly 300 media inquiries from state, national and international media regarding MRLS. This number does not include media contacts for the press conference of May 8 or either of the Information Sharing Sessions at Keeneland.

• One of the major roles of the communications group has been to satisfy media requests in a fair and equitable manner. Our goal was to facilitate contacts between our scientific team and news media while allowing team members to do their work with limited interruptions. This may have been our greatest challenge. To meet the needs of news organizations, the communications group has set up interviews with several members of the scientific teams on a scheduled basis. These interviews have included television, print and radio.

• To date, information has appeared in news reports in at least 31 states. Eighty-three news stories have been collected since May 9th as a representative sample. Articles have appeared in such papers as the New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Tribune, and many more. Many of these stories appeared on the front pages of their respective publications.

• Nationally, MRLS information has been featured in reports on CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC both television and radio, as well as stories on National Public Radio, and a report in U.S. News and World Report. We even did a national television interview with FOX this afternoon.

• Internationally, the story has appeared in print, broadcast reports and the Internet in several African countries, New Zealand, France, Great Britian, Canada, other European countries and the Middle East. Interviews have been done with AP world-wide news service televison and print, ITN (Britian's Independent Television Network), Reuters television and print, and  BBC radio.