MATTAWAN, Mich. — The 36 beagles used in pesticide testing by Dow AgroSciences are still at the lab in Michigan, as of Tuesday.
The Humane Society of the United States is working to coordinate with the lab to get the dogs released and adopted out from a reputable animal shelter. The Humane Society is looking to find a reputable shelter with adequate resources and space for the dogs to get the best outcome.
A timeline of events was sent to News 10 Tuesday morning.
• March 12: The Humane Society of the United States released an undercover investigation showing the plight of dogs in a laboratory being dosed with pesticides and drugs. Over the span of the nearly 100 days, an investigator documented nearly two dozen experiments that involved tests on dogs. The investigator saw dogs killed at the end of studies, and others suffering for months including 36 gentle beagles being tested for a Dow AgroSciences pesticide.
• March 18: The company agreed to stop the testing on these dogs. The HSUS released this statement applauding Corteva for this move and urging them to work with us to get the dogs out of the laboratory and to an HSUS shelter and rescue partner so that they can be adopted into loving homes.
• March 22: The Humane Society of the United States learned that despite doing all we can to get Dow AgroSciences (Corteva) to work with us to release the 36 beagles from Charles River Laboratories into loving homes, the company had plans to work with a group formed by the animal testing industry itself -- one that fights against many common-sense animal protection reforms (National Animal Interest Alliancehttp://www.naiaonline.org). The HSUS reached out to Corteva and also posted on social media to urge the public to contact Corteva Agriscience and ask that they release the dogs to us and our shelter partner Michigan Humane Society.
• Tuesday, March 26: Corteva chose not to move forward with plans to have NAIA involved in the fate of the dogs.
Earlier this month, we broke details about the Humane Society’s investigation, showing testing at Charles River Laboratories in Mattawan, just southwest of Kalamazoo.
The report said some of the lab’s testing resulted in dogs being killed.
Last week, WILX reported dogs were no longer being used for testing, but 36 beagles are in the care of Corteva Agriscience, a division of DowDuPont, Inc.
Dow contracted the Mattawan Lab to use the beagles for year-long test on the toxicity of a new fungicide.
The Humane Society of the United States says that with special care and diet, the surviving dogs could be put up for adoption.
Humane Society of the United States President and CEO Kitty Block released the following statement in her blog on Tuesday:
“Since Dow AgroSciences (now known as Corteva Agriscience) announced they would stop testing pesticides on the beagles earlier this month, following an HSUS undercover investigation at the Charles River Laboratory in Michigan, we have been in talks with the company about the dogs’ future. We were alarmed last week when they told us they planned to work with the National Animal Interest Alliance, a group linked to organizations that profit off animal suffering, to place the dogs. NAIA was not created to home animals but to instead fight the work of animal protection groups. After we shared our concerns, Corteva yesterday informed us they had chosen not to work with NAIA.”
Read more from her blog post here [blog.humanesociety.org].
