4,000 Dogs Rescued from Animal Experimentation Facility

 

Almost 4,000 dogs need new homes after being rescued from a facility in Virginia that sold them for drug experiments in laboratories.

The facility has now been shut down due to abuses of animal rights, and organizations are working to find new homes for the dogs.

US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Envigo RMS-owned breeding facility in Cumberland in May, accusing it of violating animal rights. Following the lawsuit, the company denied the allegations but announced it was closing that facility and placing the dogs with the animal rights charity Humane Society, CBS News reported.

“It’s very unprecedented,” said Audra Houghton, director of the Humane Society’s Animal Rescue Team. “I don’t think anyone on our team has ever seen 4,000 dogs in one place at the same time in their entire career.”

Inspectors discovered that some dogs were being put to death rather than receiving treatment for easily treatable ailments. Additionally, some nursing mother dogs were denied nourishment, and they were served contaminated food.

Another incident involved twenty-five puppies who succumbed to the cold. Following the complaint, the business rejected the accusations but declared it would close the facility and relocate the dogs to the Humane Society, according to CBS News.

The dogs, which are all beagles, are currently being examined by veterinarians and receiving vaccinations to be put up for adoption.

Drawn Out Conflict Led to The Rescue of the Dogs

State senator for Virginia Bill Stanley told Reuters that the rescue was the outcome of a prolonged conflict.

“I can attest to how wonderful these dogs are because I own two,” he told Reuters. “I purchased two Envigo beagles in 2020 and 2021, [and] I bought those beagles because I didn’t want them to be tested. And now I know that their brothers and sisters will not be subjected to the same experiments.”

Some of the dogs have been adopted by interested people throughout the United States, including two hundred in southern California alone.

Most of the animals show signs of trauma according to rehoming organizations, and some of the puppies had never been held and did not know how to play.