Update (3 June 2024): Envigo Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Violate Animal Welfare Act
In a historic plea agreement following a PETA US undercover investigation, Envigo pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of conspiracy to violate the federal Animal Welfare Act and a felony charge of conspiracy to violate the federal Clean Water Act. These first-ever federal convictions of a supplier of animals for experimentation leave Envigo facing more than $35 million in penalties, including a $22 million fine. A PETA US investigator tipped off the government to many of the violations cited in the US Justice Department’s filings, including that Envigo staff killed conscious puppies via excruciating injections in the heart, advised other employees to withhold food from nursing mother dogs and falsely told inspectors the dogs were being fed every day, and falsified records.
A 2021 PETA US undercover investigation found 5,000 beagle dogs and puppies intensively confined to small, barren kennels and cages 24/7 at a massive breeding factory in Cumberland, Virginia. During the course of the investigation, the operation was owned by Envigo. The company also owns facilities in the UK where animals may be bred for and used in experiments – Including in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Based on the evidence, a team of US Department of Agriculture officials conducted a multi-day inspection of the factory.
The dogs had no beds, no toys, no stimulation – no real lives. For more than 50 years, various companies have bred them at this dog factory farm to sell to laboratories for experimentation.
Deprived of any opportunity to run, play, and simply act like dogs, the beagles just pace back and forth and jump up and down.
See for Yourself:
The dogs were kept in sheds that stretched as long as a large football pitch and were deafeningly loud when hundreds of them barked at once. The noise level reached over 117 decibels – louder than a rock gig – and of course, the dogs have no way to escape from the virtually constant noise. Dogs’ hearing is much more sensitive than humans’ – they hear sounds that we cannot and from much farther away.
The crowded and stressful conditions cause the animals to fight, often resulting in injuries, especially to their ears.
Female dogs are bred repeatedly for years. Many gave birth to puppies on the hard floor.
A supervisor found one pregnant dog with a fever. The next day, a worker found her “dead – like stiff as a board”, with “two puppies in her and … they had torn through her uterus [and] were just kind of floating around in her abdomen. So all like … the afterbirth … was all … in her stomach. And I think that just led to a massive infection.”
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Dogs who survived their first few months at the facility were warehoused in crowded, stressful conditions like this until they were shipped off to laboratories all over the world for experimentation.
PETA US
Thousands of dogs used for breeding were kept for years in factory farm–like sheds such as this. They could see – but not walk or play in – the grass.
PETA US
Desperate for stimulation in these barren kennels, the frustrated dogs stood, paced, and jumped up and down in anticipation of anyone’s approach.
Dead and Dying Puppies: an Almost Daily Occurrence
Over the course of the investigation, the eyewitness found more than 350 puppies dead among their live littermates and mothers. Some puppies had been inadvertently crushed to death by their mothers inside the cramped cages, while others suffered from hydrocephalus (in which fluid builds up inside the skull and puts pressure on the brain), were eviscerated, or just couldn’t survive the harsh conditions.
One Monday, the investigator found a puppy whose body was split open, was rotting, and smelled rancid in a cage with the puppy’s mother and littermates. A worker said, “That puppy’s probably been in there since Friday.”
Some puppies fell through holes in the cages and ended up in drains, soaking wet and covered with faeces, bedding, and waste. Typically, they did not survive.
The investigator brought one such puppy to a supervisor and the site manager, who responded, “Shit.” As staff discussed putting the puppy in with a nearby nursing dog, the site manager said of dogs in the room, “Honest to God, those fuckers are so close[ly] related … we’re probably not that far off.” The next morning, the investigator found the puppy dead.
PETA US
Some dead puppies were found with severe injuries and even missing legs.
PETA US
Over the course of the investigation, the investigator found more than 350 puppies dead in cages with their mothers and littermates.
Conscious Puppies Killed by Intracardiac Injection – Excruciating and Unacceptable
Workers put some puppies down by trying to inject euthanasia solution into their hearts while they were conscious and able to feel the needle penetrating their chest, contrary to veterinary guidelines for euthanasia.
After a worker denied that he needed to sedate one conscious puppy before putting her down, the puppy raised her head. When the investigator pointed out that “she’s still … awake”, the worker did not respond. He just put the needle into the animal’s chest and injected the solution.
A supervisor was aware of this practice and knew that at least one worker engaged in it. Some workers did little – or nothing at all – to verify that animals were dead before putting them into plastic bags.
Soaking Animals and Food With High-Pressure Water
Nursing mothers and their puppies were left in their cages while a supervisor and others sprayed the cages with a high-pressure hose. The dogs were left soaking wet.
Careless spraying also left food mouldy and rotting, and maggots sometimes infested puppies’ food.
In addition, the facility caged cats in desolate rooms, where they were desperate for attention.
PETA US
Female dogs were bred repeatedly for years and made to give birth to numerous litters. If they survived, their puppies were sold to laboratories for experimentation.
PETA US
For the final two days with their puppies, nursing mothers were intentionally deprived of food by workers – despite what a supervisor said were federal inspectors’ instructions to feed them.
Lay Workers With No Veterinary Credentials ‘Diagnosing’ and Cutting Open Dogs
When dogs were sick or injured, lay workers tried to diagnose and treat them.
A supervisor inserted a needle into a puppy’s head, without anaesthetics or analgesics, in a crude attempt to drain fluid from a wound. The puppy cried out loudly – so the supervisor tried to hold his mouth shut.
Workers who were not veterinarians – or even veterinary technicians – cut prolapsed tissue off puppies’ eyes, stitched dogs’ prolapsed penises, and even cut puppies out of sedated dogs’ abdomens before putting the mothers down.
They were expected to perform “necropsies” by cutting open puppies’ remains in an attempt to determine their cause of death.
Standard Operating Procedures and the Suffering They Caused
Workers were instructed to use clamps to remove newborn puppies’ dewclaws – where bone meets nail – without any pain relief.
Workers were also charged with pressing needled clamps into puppies’ ears – as their mothers looked on – and then rubbing paint into the resulting holes to tattoo them. Dozens of puppies were tattooed three times – first with the wrong information, the second time with “X”s over the mistakes, and then again with the intended tattoo.
PETA US
After years of being used for breeding, dogs like these were used in experiments but were denied even a walk, a toy, or a blanket.
PETA US
After years of being used for breeding, dogs like these were used in experiments but were denied even a walk, a toy, or a blanket.
Refusing to Follow Federal Inspectors’ Instructions and Conspiring to Conceal It
For nursing mothers’ final 48 hours with their puppies, workers intentionally deprived the mothers of food. According to a supervisor, inspectors from the US Department of Agriculture told management in July to feed the dogs through their last nursing day, but the supervisor refused and continued to deny the mother dogs even half a cup of dry dog food.
After telling the investigator and another worker that nursing dogs “did not get fed”, the supervisor cautioned, “[I]f too many people know it, it’s gonna get out that’s what we’re doing, and then it’s gonna get bad.” Later, the supervisor encouraged workers to say that they were feeding nursing mothers – if they were asked about it – even though they had been instructed not to.
PETA USThe qualities that make these gentle, eager-to-please beagles great companions also make them animal experimenters’ preferred victims.
You Can Help Stop This!
Experiments on these beagles and other animals are cruel and unethical, but did you know that a staggering 95% of drugs fail in human studies, despite showing success in animal experiments? Here are some examples of failure rates for specific health problems:
• Alzheimer’s disease: 99.6%
• Cancer: 96.6%
• HIV/AIDS vaccine: 100.0%
• Strokes: 100.0%
We need a better way – and PETA scientists have come up with one. The Research Modernization Deal outlines a roadmap and strategy for optimising our nation’s investment in research to cure disease – by ending funding for experiments on animals and investing in research that’s relevant to humans.
Please take action against cruel and useless experiments on animals like these beagles. Urge the government to mandate an end to all experiments on animals and instead focus on modern, non-animal research methods.
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