In the United States we still use millions of animals in laboratory experiments. It’s a secretive industry and I think, many people are under the impression that it ended years ago. Not only is it still huge, but we test on just about every type of animal one can imagine, including dogs.
70,000 dogs a year are used in laboratory experiments and a great majority of them are beagles. The heartbreaking reason that beagles are so often the dog of choice is because they’re docile, sweet, trusting, and they don’t fight back. Like all laboratory animals, their lives are miserable from the time they are born until they’re euthanized. They are taken from their mothers and are subjected to horrific cruelty, painful tests, torture, and then finally, when the experiment is over, they are killed.
Shannon Keith is a superhuman. She’s the founder of Beagle Freedom Project, an organization that rescues and advocates for beagles as well as for many other animals who are tested on in laboratory experiments. She’s is also an animal rights lawyer, activist, and documentary director/producer. She has changed laws, rescued thousands of animals, brought enormous amounts of attention and awareness to issues that have been kept secret for decades, and in her spare time, she’s made three documentaries that have exposed the hidden worlds of lab testing, the fur industry, and the lives of captive primates.
I’m certain that future generations will look back on what we’re currently doing to animals with shock and horror, but they’ll also be able to see that there were indeed heroes amongst us: those who gave all to battle against the incredible injustices and atrocities that so many animals face every single day. Shannon is one of the heroes. Thousands of animals are alive, safe, and free because she refuses to give up the fight.
Species Unite is a podcast focused on those who fight the good fight on behalf of animals around the globe. It's a collection of the stories of the people who are healing the world one creature at a time.
Elephants, great apes, dolphins, and whales are incredibly complex, social, and intelligent creatures, but our legal system considers them to be “things,” meaning they have no more rights then a can of beans does. For too many years these animals …continue
Proudly brought to you by: 19 July 2019
Lauren Ornelas is the founder and the executive director of the Food Empowerment Project, a nonprofit food justice organization that spotlights the abuse of animals on farms, unfair working conditions for produce workers, and the unavailability of healthy foods in …continue
Proudly brought to you by: 18 June 2020
“There’s no question that Beyond Meat IPO was a watershed event. You cannot overstate enough how big of a deal that was, because before then you had a relatively small group of folks, including myself, leading the parade, cheering as …continue
Proudly brought to you by: 11 June 2020
