'The first thing you notice is the endless crying, and wailing, and barking. Terribly, terribly sad,' said, Stuart Chaifetz, one of the SHARK investigators who shot the footage.
ISABEL VAN BRUGEN: ‘Hundreds of dogs to be used in research are being kept in dirty, overcrowded, and “barbaric” conditions at a Virginia breeding facility, according to an animal rights group whose drone footage has since gone viral. The drone video was captured by the animal rights group SHARK (Showing Animals Respect & Kindness) over two days from June 29 to June 30.
It shows hundreds of beagles kept in the Covance Research Products facility in Cumberland. “The first thing you notice is the endless crying, and wailing, and barking. Terribly, terribly sad,” said, Stuart Chaifetz, one of the SHARK investigators who shot the footage.
The dogs appear to be under immense stress, displaying signs of dominance in their unnatural, overcrowded, and miserable living conditions, a member of the SHARK team says in the YouTube video. Several dogs can be seen showing stereotypical or repetitive behavior, which the SHARK member describes as an indicator of an unhealthy mental state for the animals relative to their living environment.
At least two dogs in the clip are walking around in circles, repetitively. Another part of the video appears to show a dog eating feces on the floor… The dogs’ cages are riddled with feces, and urine stains are visible on the concrete immediately outside where the animals are living. The beagles were filmed as they climbed on top of each other and fought among themselves in the overcrowded cages…
Covance which was owned by LabCorp at the time of filming, raises “thousands of dogs” for research purposes, according to PETA… Covance was made to pay a $32,500 fine in 2016 after 13 macaque monkeys died when workers failed to fix broken thermostats. It is not yet clear whether the USDA will conduct an investigation into the treatment of the beagles, but it told 8News it had seen the drone footage’. SOURCE…
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