Author: BFP

Her life has so much meaning now. When rescuers saved a blind beagle named Maria from a Chinese laboratory, they thought they were saving one dog’s life. But they ended up saving seven lives. Maria, who is now 10 years old, had spent her entire life in a cold, steel cage in a laboratory in Cheng Du, China. “I can’t say 100 percent for sure, but it’s obvious that she’s been used as a breeder,” Shannon Keith, president and founder of Beagle Freedom Project, a rescue group based in California,…

Eight states have passed laws requiring research institutions to offer healthy dogs and cats up for adoption, rather than killing them. Ringo the beagle loves all the things every dog would: Running in the yard, rides in the car and the frequent snack. “He’s just so happy to sit right in your lappy,” his owner, Amy Bleich, an engineer in Edgewater, Maryland, said. You’d never know that Ringo, now five years old, had lived the entire first two years of his life inside a small cage at a nearby medical…

The Delaware State Senate voted unanimously to legally compel research laboratories to release healthy dogs and cats that are often times euthanized when facilities no longer need them for testing. If the Governor signs the legislation, Delaware will become the eighth state to enact such a law which will legally compel research laboratories in the state to release dogs and cats that are no longer needed for testing to rescue groups so that they can be adopted into loving families. Prior to the passage of the bill the facilities could,…

DOVER — The General Assembly has passed legislation that would forbid lab animals from being euthanized after finishing their time as test subjects. The measure now goes to Gov. John Carney. A spokesman for the governor said the bill is being reviewed. Senate Bill 101 would require any entity that receives public money, works on research with a higher education institute or has tax-exempt status to put up for adoption any cats or dogs used for scientific tests or education. An animal with “substantial medical conditions or safety risks preventing…

Delaware has just become the next state to pass the historic Beagle Freedom Bill! “The Research Animal Retirement Act” (SB 101) legally compels research laboratories in the state to release dogs and cats no longer needed for testing to rescue groups, so that the animals can be adopted into loving families. It passed the Delaware General Assembly following a final favorable vote from the Senate. Once the bill is signed by Governor John Carney, Delaware will become the eighth U.S. state to enact the law. Beagle Freedom Project, the organization…

On Tuesday, the Delaware Senate voted to stop automatically killing perfectly healthy cats and dogs who’d been retired from their positions as test animals. The legislation passed unanimously. “I’m honestly amazed that this was even a debate,” said Sen. Jack Walsh (D-Stanton), a rescue dog owner himself. “We have healthy animals that research labs don’t want. We have local shelters that are willing to care for them. We have families that might want to adopt them. It defies reason that anyone would choose to euthanize them instead of giving them…

Maryland just became the seventh state to enact a “Beagle Freedom” law, which seeks to find homes for cats and dogs that survive testing in research labs. Every day, in labs across the United States, researchers experiment on thousands of cats and dogs. They test new surgical techniques, inoculate the animals with experimental drugs and remove organs, all in the name of advancing human knowledge and developing consumer products such as face creams and window cleaners. Until recently, no laws covered what should happen to animals that survive the lab…