This is a sponsored feature. All opinions are 100% from Her Campus.
According to the Beagle Freedom Project, nearly 70,000 dogs were used in laboratories for product testing in 2012 and approximately 96% of them were beagles. Beagles are of the most popular breed because of their willingness to trust, their friendliness and their people-pleasing personalities.
Animal breeders who intend to sell for scientific research typically sell these beagles to laboratories where the animals are locked in cold, metal cages from arrival to departure. They are tattooed with numbers on the inside of their ears and never given names; being treated as numbers instead of pets. They are abused and neglected, causing them to be fearful of people, and they never see the light of day or have the freedom to run.
“…. what.”
Animal testing is something that is not new to our society. We know that products such as medicines, household cleaners, and cosmetics are given to and put onto innocent animals of many breeds to make sure that the products are safe for people. But a lesser-known fact is that approximately 106,000 humans die yearly from drugs deemed safe on animals (Lazarou, 1998).
And what happens to these animals after the testing?
There are few labs that will try to find shelters and happy homes for healthy beagles, and the majority of researchers consider them useless and euthanize them, giving them no chance of having a normal life, freedom or companionship.
The Beagle Freedom Project, founded in 2010 by Shannon Keith, is devoted to stopping animal testing, and freeing these laboratory tested beagles. Shannon is an animal rights attorney and an international speaker on animal rights issues. Located out of California, Shannon and her team are dedicated and devoted to giving these dogs everything they deserve: love, life and a warm, happy home. The BFP rescues these lab-tested beagles, nurtures them, and finds them the perfect home for their post-lab lives!
The ladies of Her Campus Penn State are teaming up with the Beagle Freedom Project to inform our peers from University Park, our friends at branch campuses, our families at home, and anyone else we can reach about what really happens before they purchase products to do their makeup or clean up their floors.
HCPSU will be holding a fundraiser at a table in the HUB on Wednesday, October 15th from 10am-3pm. But wait, it gets even better! Along with the BFP, we have partnered with the Keurig student ambassadors at Penn State to make this event even more worth your while!
So here’s how it works:
- With proof of 1 ‘like’ on Facebook or a ‘follow’ on Twitter and use of the hashtag #PSULovesFreagle, you will receive a K-Cup of your choice! Who doesn’t love free coffee?!
- You will be offered the opportunity to enter in a drawing to win your very own Keurig coffee maker
Be sure to stop into the HUB for your chance to win, or you can begin by donating NOW.
This is something that I am personally very serious about. All my life I have had a beagle, and there really is no kind of unconditional love like a beagle’s love. Locking up and abusing any kind of animal for scientific study is considered cruel. Animal cruelty is a crime, which can result in misdemeanors, felonies and even jail time.
Together we can inspire, inform, and do our part to stop animal testing… all while having a hot cup of coffee!
See you in the HUB on the 15th!
(myself and my beagle Daisy)
References:
Lazarou et al. JAMA. 1998;279(15):1200-1205.