Rep. Greg Steube Visits Beagle Rescued from Mass-Breeding Facility
SARASOTA, Fla. — Congressman Greg Steube (R-Fla.) today visited a beagle who was rescued from the mass-breeding facility, Envigo. The Sarasota County Humane Society (HSSC) received 18 of the 4,000 Envigo beagles under a court-approved transfer plan for the United States Humane Society to secure placement for the dogs.
“It is my pleasure to welcome the rescued beagles to Sarasota where each of them have already found a first-time, loving home,” said Rep. Greg Steube. “Americans do not want millions of taxpayer dollars used on cruel dog experiments. I recently introduced the Protecting Dogs Subjected to Experiments Act to defund the NIH’s dog experiments and end the demand for mass-breeding facilities like the one these beagles came from. I thank the leadership and volunteers at HSSC for their enthusiasm in taking on this impactful task of finding the beagles homes in our community.”
“The Humane Society of Sarasota County recently welcomed ‘home’ 18 beagles who were destined for short lives in a lab for medical research. Watching these young pups explore life outside of a kennel for the first time drove home for us the importance of Rep. Steube’s bill. All of these dogs deserve kindness, love and to live their lives in a home,” said Anna Gonce, Executive Director of HSSC.
The Envigo facility bred dogs sold to laboratories, including to the National Institute of Health (NIH), for experiments before federal authorities recently shut down the facility for wide-scale abuses and violations of law. Records show that the NIH purchased beagles for experiments such as repeated cocaine injections, septic shock tests, covering beagles with hundreds of hungry biting flies and infectious ticks, cutting puppies’ vocal cords out so they can’t bark in the lab, and making the dogs inhale and ingest massive doses of experimental drugs.
Rep. Steube introduced legislation last month to prohibit taxpayer funding of any biological, medical, or behavioral research at the NIH that involves the use of a dog. This legislation would remove the government’s demand for mass breeding centers like Envigo.
Read Rep. Steube’s Op-Ed in the Daily Caller with White Coat Waste Founder, Anthony Bellotti here.
