One Hundred and 20 Beagles: The Great Escape Story

http://www.ilovedogs.com/2010/07/one-hundred-and-20-beagles-the-great-escape-story/

One Hundred and 20 Beagles: The Great Escape Story

A bevy of Beagles had a very good reason to celebrate Independence Day this week. Thanks to the efforts of three organizations – Pets Alive, Best Friends Animal Society and Win Animal Rights(W.A.R.) – “The Great Beagle Escape” was successfully orchestrated last Friday, in which 120 dogs were rescued from a bankrupt medical research facility and transported to sanctuaries where they’re getting ready to be placed in furever homes.

When Aniclin Preclinical Services went out of business in April, the company left the Beagles along with 55 monkeys abandoned inside its former headquarters in Warren County, N.J.

“The lab went bankrupt, closed up all the doors, and locked everything inside and left,” Kerry Clair of Pets Alive told WCBS.

New York City-based animal advocacy group W.A.R. took immediate action, working to gain custody of the abandoned dogs. After a  judge ruled that animal rescue organizations could take the dogs and primates, Best Friends paid the vet, food and transportation fees to bring the majority of the dogs to Pets Alive in Middletown, N.Y., and 30 dogs to its own sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. A simian rescue group took in the monkeys.

The dogs are mostly in good health. Half of them had been subjected to minimal, non-invasive testing (the other half were in a control group). According to the Pets Alive website, Beagles are often used for testing because of the breed’s “calm and accepting demeanor.”

Clair wrote in the Pets Alive Blog that while the rescued Beagles were “purpose bred” to be used solely for experiments and then euthanized, the majority of dogs used in labs “are supplied by so-called Class B dealers who buy them from auctions, shelters and newspaper ads.”

Until last Friday, all the rescued dogs, which range in age from 2 to 5, had spent their entire lives in indoor steel cages.

“It was truly a wonderful day to watch as these Beagles, for the first time, put their feet on grass, looked up at the sun, and met another dog and started to try to play,” the Pets Alive website reports. “It was tearful and gut wrenching and beautiful.” (Tissue alert: It was all captured on video.)

The dogs are now being socialized and will soon be ready for their furever homes. “Since these dogs have never had the opportunity to discover their true loveable, comical, often boisterous nature which makes Beagles such a favorite family dog, Pets Alive and Best Friends are committed to help these dogs discover their true personalities,” said Judah Battista, senior manager of Community Programs and Services for Best Friends Animal Society, on its website.

Want to help? You can make a monetary donation to either Best Friends or Pets Alive (for a $25 donation, you get to name one of the Beagles). Pets Alive also has a wish list of items you can donate, such as leashes, dog toys and plastic kiddie pools. To adopt one of the Beagles, fill out an application.

PHOTOS: petsalive.com, bestfriends.org