4,000 beagles that were bred to be sold and used in pharmaceutical and biotech research were rescued from a Virginia facility and are now in need of new homes.
The breeding and research facility in Cumberland called Envigo has violated federal regulations and is accused of neglect and mistreatment of the dogs.
Since acquiring Envigo in November 2021, Inotiv Inc. plans to shut the facility down as part of a restructuring effort, according to the New York Post.
Federal inspectors found the beagles to be malnourished, sick, and injured under Envigo’s care. They were kept in dirty and unsanitary cages.
300 puppies died between January and July of last year but there could be more since inspections were made in 2020.
This led the Department of Justice and the Humane Society of the United States to file a joint request to rescue and transfer the animals from this inhumane facility.
One animal rescue group claimed that this task is one of the largest canine rescue efforts in the country’s history, the New York Post reports.
The beagles must be out of the facility in about 60 days and will be given necessary medical care before finding them new homes.
Some people took to Twitter to raise awareness about the rescue efforts as well as to express their disgust at the facility’s inhumane treatment of dogs.
Another user writes, “Beagles are the sweetest dogs, which is why their trust and affection are exploited by researchers.”
According to Dogtime, beagles are extremely friendly and playful. They are just purely innocent and kind creatures so what these big companies did to these animals is just pure evil.
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