After PETA released undercover video footage at a local animal testing facility called Professional Laboratory and Research Services (PLRS) in Norfolk, VA that captured what appeared to be severe animal abuse, a federal investigation was launched.

“[In the video], we see workers screaming at these animals using curse words, hateful language,” PETA spokesperson Dan Shannon said in an interview with WAVY-10. “It really reflects poorly on the facility and the people running it that this was the culture they tolerated amongst their employees.”

Before the company could actually be investigated, however, the company under scrutiny released the animals to the care of the SPCA shelter in Norfolk, VA. 19 beagles arrived around 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 17th of last year.

Beagles are a common choice among animal testing facilities. “What we were told through research and talking to people is that there are places that bred beagles that are very easy to handle, very happy go-lucky, and well behaved,” Volunteer Coordinator, Kari Vincent said, “You can basically do anything to them, they don’t want a dog that isn’t going to have a good temperament. It would be difficult to manipulate them and try and run tests on them if they were hard to handle.

The condition of the dogs was better than many of the volunteers and employees from the SPCA had imagined. “We were actually very lucky, we feel like what probably happened was they disposed of the animals that were not in good condition,” Vincent said, “They voluntarily surrendered the animals before [the USDA] could actually get a chance to go in and do a formal investigation. It was in the best interest of the facility to get rid of animals that could get them in trouble. The condition of the animals we had was fairly decent.” Although the condition of the animals was better than expected, most of the dogs had tattoos on either their stomachs or inside their ears.

“There’s some skin lesions that we’re noticing, their coats are in poor shape, they’re flat, their really dried out,” Norfolk SPCA Medical Director, Dr. Carol Fellenstein told WAVY-10.

According to Vincent, the majority of the damaged seemed to be emotional. “We didn’t get to go inside the facility, but on the ride back they were completely quiet,” Vincent said, “The dogs were very quiet the whole time we had them. They acted very shy and were probably scared. They were just completely silent.”
Vincent reported that all of the dogs rescued were adopted and have adapted well to life with their new families. None of the families have reported any behavioral issues since their adoption.When rescued from abusive situations, the primary concern of the SPCA is not only the well-being of the animal, but re-acclimating the animal to human interaction.

“[In order to help the dogs adjust], We did a lot of hands-on interaction, keeping them out of cages in play groups together. We kept them in the front area with us, blocked by a baby gate so they could approach people.”