NIH Shuts Down In-House Beagle Lab Amid Scrutiny Over Animal Testing
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has officially closed its last in-house beagle laboratory located on its main campus, a move announced by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya on Fox News. The closure comes amidst growing public and political pressure concerning the agency’s funding and conduct of animal experiments, particularly those involving dogs.
The announcement follows a recent post on X by Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), stating his intention to investigate the funding of beagle experiments. Musk’s involvement highlights the increasing visibility and concern surrounding this issue, extending beyond traditional animal rights circles.
The White Coat Waste (WCW) project, a watchdog organization focused on government spending on animal research, has been instrumental in bringing the NIH’s beagle experiments to public attention. A WCW report detailed the lab’s alleged history of conducting invasive and potentially lethal experiments on over 2,000 beagles. These experiments purportedly involved injecting the dogs with pneumonia-causing bacteria, bleeding them extensively, and inducing septic shock.
Following the closure announcement, WCW President and founder Anthony Bellotti praised former President Donald Trump for initiating the process of ending the project. "Taxpayers and pet owners shouldn’t be forced to pay for the NIH’s beagle abuse," Bellotti stated. "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!"
The closure of the beagle lab represents a significant victory for animal rights advocates and organizations that have long campaigned against animal testing. It also aligns with a broader trend of reassessing and reducing animal experimentation across various government agencies.
The Trump administration, in particular, took several steps to curtail animal testing. Shortly after taking office, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans to phase out animal testing requirements for antibody therapies and other drugs, favoring alternative testing methods that mimic human organs. Similarly, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Lee Zeldin announced the reinstatement of a 2019 policy from the first Trump administration aimed at phasing out animal testing within the agency.
In another example, the administration closed the government’s largest cat lab in 2019, demonstrating a commitment to reducing animal experimentation across diverse species.
Director Bhattacharya revealed that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) contacted him after the beagle testing facility’s closure, expressing their appreciation with a gesture of sending him flowers. "Normally, I think NIH directors tend to get physical threats, but they sent me flowers," Bhattacharya commented.
PETA had previously criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci, then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), for allegedly approving funding for tests in Tunisia where beagle puppies were drugged and their heads were locked in cages filled with hungry, infected sandflies. These allegations further intensified the scrutiny surrounding NIH’s animal research practices.
Following these reports, a bipartisan group of 23 lawmakers, including Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., sent a letter to Fauci addressing the 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."
Kathy Guillermo, PETA senior vice president of laboratory investigations, expressed the organization’s delight at the news of the NIH facility closure. "We are letting the new NIH Director know how important this step is for modernizing science, and were especially happy because these last experiments involved sepsis, which we have been working to end for several years. Sepsis experiments on animals are failures."
Guillermo further noted that PETA has a pending lawsuit, filed under the Biden administration, seeking to prevent the government from funding any more sepsis experiments on animals.
The Indiana-based company that bred the beagles for research, Envigo, pleaded guilty in 2024 to neglecting thousands of dogs at its Cumberland, Virginia, breeding facility and will be required to pay over $35 million in fines, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. "[Envigo’s] beagles who were used [at the NIH location], will no longer be used," Guillermo said. "We first exposed [Envigo] in an undercover investigation that eventually led to the closure of the facility and the release of 4,000 beagles to good homes."
The FDA has also been making strides in reducing animal testing, with a commissioner stating that phasing out some animal testing is a "win-win" for both ethics and public health.
PETA is currently awaiting information about the condition of the dogs that will be released and has offered to assist in finding homes for them if they are deemed suitable.
Guillermo concluded by stating that "[Dr.] Bhattacharya has made a wonderful start, and there is a lot more work to be done, because animals are being experimented on, including beagles and other dogs, across the country. So we’re looking forward to what comes next."
The closure of the NIH’s in-house beagle lab marks a significant step forward for animal welfare advocates. It reflects a growing awareness and concern regarding the ethical implications of animal experimentation and underscores the importance of exploring alternative research methods. While this closure is a positive development, further efforts are needed to address animal testing practices across the country.
