COURT ORDERS RELEASE OF 2,500 BEAGLES FROM BREEDING FACILITY WITH TIES TO ANIMAL TESTING LABS
An Italian court has ruled that the Green Hill dog breeding facility in Montichiarti, Italy (owned by Marshall BioResources), be temporarily closed and that approximately 2,500 Beagles be freed. Advocates of the laboratories claim that depriving researchers the use of the dogs will hinder the development of drugs for humans. However, critics of the facility allege that the dogs are bred and kept in poor conditions. The dogs are then sent to animal testing laboratories where vivisection and other tests are performed presumably on behalf of companies in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and other fields. Here’s more from nature.com:
On 18 July, the court judged that allegations of maltreatment of dogs at the Green Hill facility in Montichiari, Italy, warranted further investigation. The allegations were made by two animal-rights groups: the Anti-Vivisection League (LAV) and Legambiente, both based in Rome. Immediately after the decision, inspectors accompanied by police went to the facility, which belongs to Marshall BioResources, based in North Rose, New York, and confiscated computers and other items for analysis.
The court also gave the animal-rights groups responsibility for the care of the 2,500 beagles in the facility. The groups began distributing the dogs to foster homes on 27 July. Around 1,000 are now in temporary homes, pending the outcome of the investigation expected this week. The dogs would not be allowed to return to Green Hill, because they could bring pathogens into the facility. Many think that the loss of the dogs will threaten the survival of the company.
Hopefully these Beagles will all be adopted and taken away to loving households. One cannot help but think that there must be a better way to test products than to torture Beagles. Click here for the full story.
