A group of animal-loving advocates has a deal for Mizzou. Beagle Freedom Project, the California-based non-profit suing the University of Missouri over an $82,000 bill for public records related to the care of animals used in medical research, says the university could face up to $900,000 in fines, plus attorney fees and costs, over its Sunshine law missteps. But the non-profit will settled the suit with Mizzou for just $1 — provided the university agrees to work with it to safeguard the animals’ well-being. Among its demands? That Mizzou develop…
Category: News
University of Missouri Researchers Blinded Puppies Before Euthanization
COLUMBIA, MO (KSHB) — The University of Missouri acknowledges its researchers took part in a medical study that included wounding six beagle puppies before they were all euthanized. The study was published in the medical journal Veterinary Ophthalmology on April 7. It says six healthy, female beagle puppies (9-12 months) were wounded in their left corneas; three were then given an experimental drug and the other three received the control product without the acid. The result of the study concluded the topical drug “did not accelerate corneal wound healing.” ‘Optimend…
Mizzou Researchers Sued for Blinding, Killing Beagles in Failed Experiment
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMOX) – Another controversy at Mizzou — a rescue organization is suing researchers at the University of Missouri – Columbia who purposely blinded six beagles and then killed them after the project failed. The deaths of the dogs came to light after the Los Angeles-based Beagle Freedom Project, a non-profit that finds homes for animals who survive medical research, sued the university for attempting to charge the group an estimated $82,000 to make copies of its current research projects. While waiting on the suit, Kevin Chase, Beagle Freedom…
Researchers Under Fire for Study That Ended with 6 Beagles Dead
The study was published online in April, but the fallout is hitting now: University of Missouri-Columbia researchers are trying to identify “painless or non-invasive treatments for corneal injuries,” and devised a pilot study using six beagles to that end. The researchers wanted to study the effects of topical hyaluronic acid on corneal ulcers; under sedation, the dogs’ left corneas were wounded (the New York Daily News reports this blinded them in that eye), with half the group then acting as control and half administered the acid. Per the study, posted…
University of Missouri Researchers Blinded, Killed Six Beagles for Inconclusive Study
Six puppies were blinded for a University of Missouri-Columbia study, and then killed after the results were inconclusive. In a study published on April 7, four researchers at the university were looking to find the effects of topical hyaluronic acid to heal eye damage in dogs for its pilot study. After the six beagles — all less than a year old — were purposely blinded in their left eyes, the researchers split them up into two different groups, one that received the acid for treatment, and one that didn’t. Neither…
Mizzou Slaughtered Six Beagles After Research Project
A quartet of professors at the University of Missouri-Columbia purposefully blinded six beagles — and then killed them after the research they were conducting failed to heal their wounded corneas. That’s according to a paper published in the 2016 Journal of Veterinary Opthamology, which details the ineffective treatment and the dogs’ untimely end. The pups were just nine to twelve months at the time they endured the experiment and then were killed. Dan Kolde is a St. Louis-based attorney for the Beagle Freedom Project, which seeks to rescue and protect the…
Rescuers without Borders
From South Korea to Mexico, Australia to all parts of Europe, and 36 U.S. states in between – there is no destination Beagle Freedom Project will not journey to in order to rescue animals from laboratory languish! This month I got to go home for a very special rescue of 10 beagles from an Eastern European pharmaceutical lab. As a Dutch national living in the U.S. (and working hard as the Adoptions Coordinator for BFP) I was overjoyed to be able to go home and welcome 10 new furry friends…
Rescuing The Grampas - How BFP Rescued 14 Year Old Seniors from A Life of Hell
Meet Alvin, Simon & Theodore, beagles just shy of 14 years of age, raised and tested on in a horrific laboratory and then thrown away at an overcrowded, under-funded shelter. These three sweet seniors, have never had the opportunity to exercise, stretch or play…. They have been confined in cages their entire lives. BFP partners in South Korea notified us about them and we immediately began working to secure their release, which was not easy. These guys, being old and having been neglected, needed serious medical care before they could…
Summer of Freedom Rescues!
11 states. 5 laboratories. 38 beagles. 1 month. Announcing BFP’s historic multi-lab, multi-state, and largest U.S. beagle rescue to date! 38 beagles freed in the largest coordinated release. Literally from coast to coast and several states in between scores of new families were created in an unprecedented rescue operation. Despite “animal industry” opposition and obstacles, BFP quietly secured the release and freedom of dozens of “purpose-bred for research” beagles after the labs deemed them “experimentally spent.” BFP prevailed upon the lab workers to let us help them instead of just…
The Spanish 40
Beagle Freedom Project rescued 40 beagles from a laboratory in Spain where some had spent their entire lives. Others had come from other labs to the lab in Spain, only to be tested on in there. These 40 male beagles had spent their entire lives being test on in a laboratory in Spain. The lab was closing and some nice technicians were looking for placement instead of killing them. Nobody in Spain could take them, so when we found out at the 11th hour, we stepped in! After a week…
Our First Rescue
ARME rescued two Beagles from a medical testing laboratory. These dogs had never seen the outdoors, walked on grass or felt a gentle touch. We captured their first steps into a kind world. They had also been de-barked and fed only “laboratory chow.” This is the rescue that kicked off Beagle Freedom Project! Freedom and Bigsby are now living the good life after spending a couple of years in a research laboratory.