Judge Denies Envigo’s Motion; All 4,000 Surviving Beagles May Soon Be Bound for Adoption

For Immediate Release:
July 1, 2022

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

In the latest order issued in the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) civil case against Envigo, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Norman K. Moon denied the company’s second attempt to gain permission to fulfill a sister entity’s contracts for approximately 2,100 beagles. Judge Moon wrote, “When the Court issued its Injunction …, it gave Envigo no more and no less than what it asked for. Which was to be permitted to fulfill ‘Envigo’s contractual obligations to its customers.’”

Accordingly, the DOJ and Envigo have just submitted a plan for the Humane Society of the United States to remove “all” approximately 4,000 surviving dogs from Envigo’s Cumberland, Virginia, facility so that they can be adopted. The plan calls for the company to pay $100 per dog—and $150 per dog nursing a litter younger than 8 weeks—to help defray shelters’ costs in adopting out the animals. A hearing on whether this plan will be incorporated into Judge Moon’s preliminary injunction against Envigo—or a settlement between the DOJ and Envigo—is expected soon.

“Envigo’s surviving victims will soon be given the opportunity to have what every dog deserves—the freedom to enjoy life, love, and respect for their individuality as members of a family home,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA’s groundbreaking undercover investigation helped spark a historic domino effect of state and federal legislative and law-enforcement action that paved the way for these dogs’ independence and this dog prison’s closure.”

In responding to Envigo’s latest efforts to sell 2,200 of the dogs in Cumberland for experimentation, the DOJ notes that the company “attempt[ed] to downplay the fact that it … wants to fulfill orders of another Inotiv subsidiary …. These contracts were entered into by a separate subsidiary, which is not a party to this case, is registered as a different entity with the Virginia Secretary of State, and appears to have its own Animal Welfare Act dealer license. For Envigo RMS to suggest that it does not matter which business entity is party to the contract is puzzling at best.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—conducted a seven-month undercover investigation into Envigo. Broadcast-quality video footage from the group’s investigation is available here, and photographs from the investigation are available here.

For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.