NIH closes experimentation labs accused of brutally killing thousands of beagles for 40+ years

Dog experimentation labs ran for more than 40 years, animal rights advocates say

National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Jay Bhattacharya recently announced on Fox News the agency closed its last in-house beagle laboratory on the NIH campus.

The announcement comes just days after Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk posted on X that he would investigate funding beagle experiments.

A report from the White Coat Waste (WCW) project detailed the lab’s history of allegedly pumping pneumonia-causing bacteria into more than 2,000 beagles’ lungs, bleeding them out, and forcing them into septic shock for deadly experiments.

Following the announcement, WCW president and founder Anthony Bellotti praised President Donald Trump for ending the highly scrutinized project.

“Taxpayers and pet owners shouldn’t be forced to pay for the NIH’s beagle abuse,” Bellotti wrote in a statement. “We applaud the President for cutting this wasteful NIH spending and will keep fighting until we defund all dog labs at home and abroad. The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness!”

FILE – The Humane Society of the United States previously worked with the Department of Justice and animal welfare partners, including Homeward Trails, to find new homes for rescued beagles. (Sue Bell/Homeward Trails)

Shortly after the Trump administration took office, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in April it would phase out an animal testing requirement for antibody therapies and other drugs in favor of testing on materials that mimic human organs.

Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin also announced his agency would reinstate a 2019 policy from the first Trump administration to phase out animal testing.

FILE – Homeward Trails, a Virginia-based animal shelter, previously rescued beagles from Envigo breeding. (Sue Bell/Homeward Trails)

During Trump’s first term in 2019, the administration closed the government’s largest cat lab.

Bhattacharya said People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) reached out to him following the closure of the beagle testing facility, sending him flowers.

“Normally, I think NIH directors tend to get physical threats, but they sent me flowers,” Bhattacharya said on air. 

PETA in 2021 highlighted Anthony Fauci’s alleged approval of funding for tests in Tunisia where beagle puppies were drugged, and their heads were locked in cages filled with hungry, infected sandflies.

A pair of beagles stand next to an anti-animal experiments banner. (Photo by Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

After the reports came out, 23 bipartisan lawmakers, including Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., sent a letter to Fauci addressing the heartbreaking experiments.

“Yesterday, I sent a letter to Dr. Fauci regarding cruel, taxpayer-funded experiments on puppies; debarking before drugging and killing them,” Mace wrote in an October 2021 post on X. “This is disgusting. What say you @NIH.”