By Bob Katzen

The Senate approved and sent to the House a bill that would require research labs to take reasonable steps to offer healthy animals up for adoption rather than euthanizing them when the research is done. According to supporters, more than 60,000 dogs and nearly 20,000 cats are used for animal experimentation in the US.

“I filed the bill to give animals used in medical and product testing experiments a life after the lab,” said sponsor Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) who noted that beagles are very docile and because of that they are often used in laboratories. In fact the majority of animal testing facilities rely on dogs—the greatest proportion of which are beagles. Dogs and other animals involved in research in Massachusetts make tremendous sacrifices to save our lives and make us healthier. We have a moral imperative to give them the opportunity for life after the lab.”