After animal rescue organizations began rescuing them from a Virginia facility where they were being raised to be sold to scientists for drug trials, over 4,000 beagles are now looking for homes.
“It’s going to take 60 days to get all of these animals out, and working with our shelter and rescue partners across the country, working with them to get these dogs into eventually into an ever-loving home,” said Kitty Block, president, and chief executive of the US Humane Society.
Shelters from South Elgin, Illinois to Pittsburgh have begun receiving the dogs, which will get medical exams, vaccinations, and other treatments before becoming available for adoption.
Inotiv did not respond to a request for comment.
Government inspectors found beagles there were being killed instead of receiving care for easily treated conditions; nursing mother beagles were denied food; the food they received contained maggots, mold, and feces; and over an eight-week period, 25 beagle puppies died from cold exposure, the Humane Society said in a statement. Some were injured when attacked by other dogs in overcrowded conditions, it added.
The beagle rescue effort began much earlier, according to Bill Stanley, a Republican state senator for Virginia. “I tried to shut them down in 2019 but was not successful. But over the years, we never stopped fighting.”