Distressing and cruel medical experiments conducted on beagles at the National Institutes of Health, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of dogs, are no more. All the projects that performed tests on the canine have ended.
“We got rid of all of the beagle experiments on NIH campus,” NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said during an interview on Sunday on Fox & Friends Weekend.
Bhattacharya’s announcement about closing the beagle testing labs comes after years of petitions to end the program and a post on X from Elon Musk claiming that DOGE would investigate testing conducted on the canines.
The White Coat Waste Project, a bipartisan government watchdog organization dedicated to ending the taxpayer-funded testing on animals, celebrated NIH’s shutting down of labs. The organization claimed in a post on X that “2,133 beagles perished here in cruel septic shock experiments.”
Anthony Bellotti, the president and founder of the White Coat Waste Project, lauded his organization’s role in shutting down the beagle testing labs in a Sunday release.
“As the watchdog that first uncovered and battled Dr. Fauci’s beagle tests (the biggest animal testing scandal in history), we’re proud that White Coat Waste has closed the NIH’s last in-house beagle laboratory — and the U.S. government’s biggest dog lab,” said Bellotti. “Today’s landmark victory is especially sweet as our fight to expose and close NIH’s septic shock lab—which slaughtered more than 2,000 beagles over the last 40 years—was the first campaign White Coat Waste started in 2016.”
He also touted his group’s previous efforts to shut down labs that conducted tests on animals. Bellotti then commended President Donald Trump and his administration for taking the steps necessary to end the lab testing program.
“First, White Coat Waste ended dog testing inside the Dept. of Veterans Affairs — the fed’s most painful dog labs,” he said. “Now, we’ve done it again at the NIH — the U.S. government’s largest dog lab. Taxpayers and pet owners shouldn’t be forced to pay for the NIH’s beagle abuse, and now, following a White Coat Waste campaign, they won’t have to. This has been our top priority for the Trump Administration. 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!”
DEMOCRATS HAVE A PATRIOTISM PROBLEM
During his interview on Fox News, Bhattacharya said People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) contacted him after he officially ended the beagle testing at NIH and sent him a little gift for doing so.
“Normally, I think NIH directors tend to get physical threats, but they sent me flowers,” Bhattacharya said.