I have a 6 year old beagle named Floyd. I’m of the opinion that Floyd is a particularly excellent dog, and since I have known many dogs, I feel qualified to make that statement. He’s loving and smart and a whole lot of fun to be around. He’s a simple guy. He loves walks, stuffed animals, and especially picking and eating veggies in the garden in the summer time. He also lived the first four years of his life in a medical testing facility.

Despite all of his excellent qualities, Floyd has a lot of issues, and he sometimes experiences what we call “doggie panic attacks.” If something scares him, he doesn’t have much of an ability to cope like a normal dog, and he has a hard time recovering. He will run and hide, shaking with his head tucked down. He also doesn’t like it when you come to leash him up, no matter what fun thing you’re going to do. He will lay down, limp and lifeless while you put a harness on him. As soon as he realizes nothing bad will happen, he’s up and happy, ready to go for whatever adventure. It can be heartbreaking to watch. It took weeks to get him to walk more than around the block. He was afraid of the sky, leaves, snow and wind. He used to spend hours at a time staring at himself in the mirror. He guards his food.

We’ve done all of the things to help him (so no advice, please) from behavioral help to a dog psychic (yep really) to CBD and he’s much better than he was. I can also say, after having worked with tens of thousands of dogs in animal shelters across the country for most of my career, these things he does are significantly abnormal. Anyone who thinks medical testing animals have no lasting effects is out of their mind, and if this is a lie you’ve been fed, come on over and hang out with Floyd for a while.

You’d have to be living under a rock to miss what is happening at Ridglan “Farms” in Wisconsin right now. (If you DO live under a rock, no judgement. I myself did not know who the host of “Survivor” was this week.)

Ridglan Farms is a commercial breeding facility that breeds and sells beagles specifically to research labs and conducts contracted medical reearch. Up until recently, when they finally lost their license due to horrific treatment of the animals in their care, they bred and sold beagles to testing facilities around the country. And although they’ve lost their commercial breeding license, they are still able to conduct medical research.

Currently, there are about 2,000 beagles in Ridglan Farms. 2,000 Floyds. Between the loss of their license and the time they need to stop breeding operations, these 2,000 animals need to be either sold or surrendered by July 26. This petition is advocating for a humane transition plan.

Advocates from Direct Action Everywhere, a humane advocacy group which conducts open rescue operations in order to draw attention to animal suffering, have conducted two open rescue operations at the facility in recent weeks. The first one resulted in the removal of 30 dogs and the reclamation of 8 of them by the Wisconsin state police. The second attempt resulted in hundreds of people attempting to enter the facility to rescue the beagles and being thwarted by police, who used tear gas and rubber bullets to deter them.

According to Humane World for Animals, which maintains an excellent page about testing on dogs in particular, in the last three years more than 44,000 dogs have been used for testing across the country. That’s 44,000 Floyds.

They are used primarily to test drugs, pesticides, and medical devices. Generally, they are fed or otherwise forced to ingest through inhalation or injection, quantities of the substance for months to determine levels of toxicity, and then afterwards they are often killed. The laws that exist do not protect them. In fact, they acknowledge that “some” suffering is necessary to acheive the desired results.

Beagles are often used because they are small, generally do not bite when hurt, and have veins similar in size to humans.

And, at this point in this post, I’m sure you’re like, OK, Audrey, thanks for the current info, but sir, this is a Wendy’s. Where’s the history?

You may not know it, but in some states, animal shelters still surrender shelter pets to laboratories for this purpose, sometimes for compensation. In many places this is a choice that a municipality can make. Not all. In Oklahoma specifically, shelters are actually still required to surrender dogs to labs. You can find the most current pound seizure laws by state here.

I’m working on a larger piece that will unpack the history of vivisection across the United States and in particular in relationship to pound seizure laws, but the history is so dark, complex, and varied that it will take me a while to get it right. Still, I didn’t want to go without acknowledging what is happening in Wisconsin, for the sake of Floyd and for the sake of the 2,000 animals still locked inside that hell house.

Today, I’m bringing you a singular article from The National Humane Review, which was the periodical of the American Humane Association, published from about 1913 through the 1970s.

The article details a proposed amendment to ordinances in San Francisco that would have required shelter animals to be surrendered to medical colleges and research facilities. You can read the rest of this issue here, should you be so inclined. The piece along with the included newspaper articles below, are all quite long and I’ve said enough, so I’ll let you explore this and form your own opinions. Enjoy.

-Audrey

And here, a newspaper articles in relationship to the above. I particularly appreciate the view of Marie James.