Why beagles? Beagles are the overwhelming choice of dogs for animal research and testing because they’re sweet, docile and usually forgiving of pain that is sometimes untreated, suffered in isolation, and results frequently in death. Their sweet nature is the same reason they make great family members.
Background: Massachusetts laboratories keep and use more than 9,200 dogs in research and testing annually, more than any other state and comprising 15% of all dogs used in the US. They also keep and use more than 600 cats, or 3.3% of all cats used in the US.
Spurred by a Massachusetts resident who learned about the national Beagle Freedom Project’s efforts to secure such legislation, the first bill was filed in Massachusetts in January 2017 by Senator Bruce Tarr, Representative Carolyn Dykema and Representative Michelle Dubois. It has been refiled in each legislative session since then. Despite overwhelming support from legislators, time has always run out before it could be passed. The bill is now before the Joint Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (ENRA) Committee. On November 17, 2021, the Committee heard testimony that was unanimously in favor of this session’s bill.
What’s next? The ENRA Joint Committee has until early February 2022 to vote on the bill and needs your support to pass it. If it passes, it will move through several other Senate and House committees before coming up for a vote on the House floor by July 31st, 2022. If time runs out yet again, we cannot know how many dogs and cats that have been used to benefit us will be saved from a premature death because they are no longer needed.
TAKE ACTION by February 2, 2022!!!!
These dogs and cats need the ENRA Joint Committee to report out a favorable vote on the bill for it to progress.
Here are different ways you can support this bill. Choose one or all of the following:
- Please reach out to your local State Representative and Senator to ask for their support of Massachusetts bills H.890/ H.901/ S.613. Your phone calls and emails matter! They can make the difference between finally passing this bill and having it die in yet another legislative session.
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To learn who your legislators are and how to contact them, use this link.
- Personalizing a message to your legislators will help it stand out, but feel free to use the button below to find language to urge them to support this important bill and to ask their colleagues on the ENRA Joint Committee to do the same
