An international company called Envigo raises and sells animals for medical research. Last year an employee of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals went undercover here at Envigo’s dog-breeding facility west of Richmond. She made this and other recordings documenting the mistreatment of animals according to PETA executive Daphna Nachminovitch.
“She saw first-hand the mother dogs were deprived of food for days, and just in the course of her investigation she found more than 360 dead puppies. These animals were going without veterinary care for painful conditions, and she documented all of that.”
As it turned out, she was not the first to see problems. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which enforces the federal Animal Welfare Act, had also weighed in.
“The facility was cited for 74 violations in just ten months, yet the USDA took no enforcement action,” Nachminovitch says.
So PETA filed a formal complaint with the USDA and in May of this year the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh led hundreds of federal, state and local police and animal welfare advocates in a raid.
“I’ve been in federal prosecution for 15 years. It was one of the most complex operations that I’ve seen," he recalls. "There were hundreds of members of law enforcement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, from the Virginia State Police as well as from Cumberland County and that area. Additionally there were close to 100 if not more than 100 volunteers to examine the beagles and also make sure that any beagles that showed any acute distress could receive care immediately.”
Four hundred forty-six dogs were taken away for emergency treatment. Virginia’s legislature – which rarely agrees on anything – gave unanimous support to bills that strengthened protections for dogs and cats bred for medical research. Governor Youngkin happily signed the bill surrounded by about a dozen beagles, and in Washington Senators Warner and Kaine expressed their support.
Under a consent decree, Envigo said it would close its Virginia operation over the next 60 days. It gave custody of about 4,000 dogs to the Humane Society of the United States which is now working with local shelters to find homes for the pups.
Nachminovitch is delighted.
“These dogs will finally get the opportunity to feel grass under their paws and the sun on their back and fetch if they want to and just be part of a family,” she says.
The Humane Society may be overwhelmed with public interest. We reached out to its media relations director by phone, e-mail and text, but she did not respond. Nachminovitch is not surprised, but she warns these beagles may not be good pets for everyone.
“They have been warehoused in cages their entire lives. They may be frightened. They’ve never taken stairs. They’ve never gone through a doorway. They won’t know what certain noises are, and so anyone who is considering adopting one of these dogs should have patience and should be home with the dogs.”
U.S. Attorney Kavanaugh hopes this case puts other breeders on notice nationwide.
“Whether to humanely and adequately treat an animal is not a question to be considered for your bottom line or your profit margin," he says. "It’s a requirement under the law.”
Nachminovitch says PETA will be watching other Envigo operations in Pennsylvania, Indiana and Texas, and she hopes this matter will prompt the public to weigh-in on a more controversial issue -- the use of animals in medical research.
