The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has shut down its last in-house beagle laboratory, ending four decades of experiments on the dogs, as confirmed by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya on May 4, 2025.
The closure follows reports from the White Coat Waste Project detailing alleged cruel practices, including inducing sepsis and hemorrhagic fever in over 2,000 beagles. The lab sourced beagles from Envigo, a Virginia breeder previously fined for animal welfare violations.
Why Dogs Were Chosen for Research
Beagles are widely used in labs due to their docile and trusting nature, making them easy to handle, and their medium size, ideal for standardized testing.
Their genetic similarity to humans aids research in toxicology, pharmacology, and diseases like cancer or diabetes.
However, critics argue these traits exploit the breed’s friendly demeanor, with an estimated 60,000 dogs, mostly beagles, used annually in U.S. labs.
