At least 4,000 beagles have been rescued from a dog breeding facility in Virginia, with animal shelters now gearing up to handle the “monumental” task of rehabilitating them through adoption.
A federal court had last week allowed the rehabilitation of the dogs from the facility.
Envigo, the breeding facility in Cumberland, Virginia, supplies beagles for medical and other research purposes and had several lawsuits slapped against it for violating federal laws.
More than 70 animal welfare violations were reported at the breeding facility after a series of inspections spanning nine months, reported CNN.
More than 300 beagle puppies died at the facility between January and July last year, showed court records.
Puppies and adult beagles at the facility were underfed, injured and sick, said a complaint filed with the US District Court in the Western District of Virginia.
The dogs were kept in small spaces where faeces piled up, the complaint said, adding that they had to undergo painful medical science experiments and received poor medical care at the facility.
Envigo’s parent company Inotiv announced they would shut the Cumberland breeding facility in June.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), in a 7 July statement, said: “At this time, we are connecting with our shelter and rescue partners and preparing to take on the monumental process of securing placement for these dogs.”
A transfer plan that had earlier been sent for approval by Envigo, the Department of Justice and HSUS was given the greenlight by the federal court, the HSUS said.
“Now that the Court has approved the joint transfer plan, we and our partners are preparing to move quickly to place these beagles in loving homes,” it added.
One of the nonprofits and animal welfare groups, Homeward Trails Animal Rescue in Fairfax Station in Virginia, is taking some of the beagles from the Envigo facility.
The group had last month rescued 475 beagles from the breeding centre.
Virginia senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner had then said in a statement that they were “thrilled to report that nearly 450 innocent dogs are finally free from abuse and neglect after being seized by federal officials and surrendered by Envigo”.
“We’ve spent months pressing the Department of Agriculture to take action against Envigo following its persistent and egregious abuses of animal welfare laws, and are glad to see enforcement efforts come to fruition,” they added.
This time around, Homeward Trails plans to rehabilitate 1,500 beagles and hand them to partner organisations.
“We hope to start this process around July 19th,” Homeward Trails’ Executive Director Sue Bell wrote in an email to Fox News Digital.
The court has asked the government to come up with a “plan for the expeditious removal of all dogs remaining at the Cumberland facility”.
