’They know they’re safe’: 1,500 beagle dogs start new lives after being rescued from research lab
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
Send
Reddit
Linkedin
Messenger
Telegram
VK
Bluesky
Threads
Whatsapp
The rescue has been called a “landmark breakthrough for animal welfare”.
1,500 beagle dogs have been set free from a breeding and research facility after animal groups paid for them to be released.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
The beagles will be placed with adoptive families following medical checks and other specialised care.
“They started within an hour or so coming up to us, wanting attention,” says Lauree Simmons, president and founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue, as she watched the dogs roaming around on grass for the first time in their lives.
“Some crawled into people’s laps. Every single one of them is super sweet. I think they are loving the attention. I just know they know they’re safe.”
The dogs were removed from Ridglan Farms in Wisconsin, “a large-scale commercial operation” where beagle dogs are bred for laboratory research. It is the second-largest such facility in the United States, keeping 2,000 dogs at any one time.
Beagles are the most common breed of dog used for animal testing, primarily because of their smaller size and gentle temperament, Simmons says.
Big Dog Ranch Rescue and the Center for a Humane Economy negotiated a confidential agreement to buy the 1,500 dogs for an undisclosed price from Ridglan Farms, where police used tear gas and pepper spray to repel activists trying to take beagles from the facility last month. Protesters also broke into the facility in March and took 30 dogs, after which 63 people were arrested.
The Center for a Humane Economy says the effort represents one of the largest coordinated dog operations in recent US history, and reflects a “broader shift” towards ending the use of dogs in invasive research.
“This is a moment to celebrate that 1,500 dogs will soon know only the kindness of the most caring people and will be treated for the rest of their lives like little kings and queens,” says Wayne Pacelle, president of the Center for a Humane Economy.
RelatedWhy are beagles used for animal testing?
The first 300 dogs were taken from Ridglan on Friday, with more scheduled for removal over the next week.
The animal groups have set up a staging area with play yards in Wisconsin, where the dogs are being vaccinated, microchipped, spayed or neutered and prepared for transport. Big Dog Ranch Rescue has already started moving dogs to its location in western Palm Beach County, Florida.
“The younger dogs will adjust quicker, and the older dogs will take time,” Simmons said. “A lot of them are more willing to accept love and want to be with people.”
Beagles are targeted for animal testing because of their smaller size and gentle temperament.
"A Belgian Malinois is not going to put up with being tested on, being confined in a kennel their whole life,” Simmons says of the athletic shepherd dogs commonly used by police and the military.
“Beagles are just so trusting and docile and calm and forgiving, so they are the most chosen dogs for animal testing. And so we’re going to take one of the sweetest, kindest, most trusting breeds and abuse them? This is wrong. This needs to stop.”
Simmons said her group has received more than 700 adoption applications, but it might take some time before the hounds are ready for their new homes as the organisation screens potential dog parents, moves the animals to shelters around the country and ensures the beagles are housebroken.
The Center for a Humane Economy called the operation “a landmark breakthrough for animal welfare”.
Related“Intensive negotiations over several weeks”
The organisations involved in the rescue operation say it happened “after years of advocacy, public pressure, and growing scrutiny of the facility” culminating in “a negotiated agreement to purchase the dogs”. Negotiations were “intensive” and took “several weeks”.
They say this is “one of the largest single transfers of dogs from a research-breeding facility ever undertaken.”
“This is exactly the kind of moment we have been working toward for years,” says Shannon Keith, founder and president of the Beagle Freedom Project. “We have built the infrastructure to not only rescue these dogs, but to give them full lives beyond the laboratory system. Every one of these dogs will be treated as an individual deserving of care, healing, and a home.”
Ridglan Farms houses 2,000 dogs at any one time, meaning hundreds have been left behind. The Center for a Humane Economy says they are continuing efforts to try and release the remaining dogs. “Of course, we pushed to secure the release of as many dogs as possible. While we share the public’s concern for every animal still at the facility, the reality is that these agreements require compromise. Without this negotiated outcome, it is very possible that none of these dogs would have been released at all.”
Protestors have been arrested at the animal testing facility
Around 1,000 activists from across the US came to Ridglan Farms in the rural village of Blue Mounds, about 40 kilometres southwest of Madison in Wisconsin, on 18 April in an attempt to take the beagles.
They were met by police who used tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray. The Dane County Sheriff’s Department said 29 people were arrested and five face felony burglary charges.
Talks to purchase the animals began months before the April disturbance, and Simmons said her group wasn't connected to the protests.
Activists have filed a federal lawsuit in Wisconsin alleging that police used unnecessary force. Ridglan has said those who tried to break in were a “violent mob” who launched “an assault on a federally licensed research facility.”
Ridglan Farms agreed in October to give up its state breeding license as of 1 July as part of a deal to avoid prosecution on felony animal mistreatment charges. The firm has denied mistreating animals, but a special prosecutor determined that Ridglan Farms was performing eye procedures that violated state veterinary standards.
Ridglan Farms didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Go to accessibility shortcuts Share CommentsRead more
‘Incredible movement’ returns iconic kiwi birds to New Zealand capital
Схожі новини
Cooler, Variable Week Ahead: Met Office says northerly winds will cut UK warmth; frosts and showers follow
'Can a neighbor hear a gunshot?': Chilling forensic details emerge in murders of two Bangladeshi students in US
Meto Komori and Yuhi Chito suspension shocks fans as VSPO! hides details behind contract violation claims
