It is commonly said that researchers favor using beagles in lab experiments because they are a gentle and compliant breed.
Nearly 4,000 beagles were rescued in July 2022 from the Envigo breeding facility in Cumberland, Virginia. These dogs were to be sold to laboratories for experimentation, but the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Envigo RMS, the facility’s owner, alleging that the company was failing to provide the dogs with humane care as required by the Animal Welfare Act.
“Government inspectors found that beagles there were being killed instead of receiving veterinary treatment for easily treated conditions; nursing mother beagles were denied food; the food that they did receive contained maggots, mold and feces; and over an eight-week period, 25 beagle puppies died from cold exposure,” Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, wrote in her blog at the time….