WASHINGTON — Supporters of legislation meant to protect animals are on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The Better Collaboration, Accountability and Regulatory Enforcement (CARE) for Animals Act aims to better protect all animals covered under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). This includes animals at research facilities, commercial pet breeding operations and on exhibition at zoos and aquariums, as well as the 4,000 beagles rescued from an Envigo-run facility in Cumberland, Virginia last year.
The Better CARE for Animals Act would enhance collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, enabling the DOJ to enforce the AWA more effectively and step in quicker to end animal abuse and unnecessary suffering. Enactment of this legislation would provide more enforcement tools, including license revocations, civil penalties and a process for pursuing appropriate seizure cases in which animals are suffering as a result of AWA violations.
The AWA requires research facilities, exhibitors, breeders and dealers to meet basic standards of animal care. According to the Humane Society, the AWA is a "critical law" in order to protect animals from mistreatment.
"Yet egregious abuses persist, Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, wrote in a press release. "Without strong enforcement, facilities have no meaningful deterrent to violating the law. Responsibility for promoting and protecting animal welfare rests with all of us, and that includes the federal government. "As our shared values and welfare science concerning animals evolves, the law must keep pace."
Wednesday's press conference comes nearly two years after concerns were first raised about the Envigo facility in Virginia.
Inspectors in November 2021 and March 2022 claimed the facility performed unnecessarily painful medical experiments on dogs and puppies, including euthanasia without sedatives. Inspectors found puppies and dogs were being held in shelters with temperatures exceeding 85 degrees for more than five hours. They also claimed the research conducted at the facility caused distress to nursing mothers and their puppies after food was intentionally withheld for two days.
Inspectors said housing violations at the facility left dozens of dogs injured, including 71 who were hurt when body parts were pulled through the wall of the kennel by other dogs. Fifty dogs were also injured or killed due to "incompatible groupings."
An animal activist with PETA claims to have shot an undercover video while working at the Envigo facility.
"Our investigator found just in the course of her shifts her employment alone more than 360 dead puppies," a PETA representative said.
In July 2022, a federal judge approved a plan to take thousands of the abused dogs from the Virginia breeding facility and place them in shelters so that they may be adopted by loving families. According to court documents, Judge Norman Moon called for Envigo to pay $100 per dog, and $150 per dog nursing a litter younger than 8 weeks, to help defray the costs to the shelters preparing the dogs for adoption.
Nearly 4,000 beagles were rescued from the facility by The Humane Society of the United States. By September, all of the dogs were rescued and were receiving care in order to get ready to be placed in animal shelters across the country. Some of the dogs were sent to shelters in Florida, Kansas, Kentucky and Wyoming.
The dogs were then adopted, one even got the royal treatment when she was adopted by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The dog, named Mia, spent her entire seven years alive breeding more dogs for Envigo.