Dog Research Exposed Podcast

Ellie Hansen, host:

You are a high-profile formidable force in the fight against animal testing and rescuing dogs and other animals from research laboratories.  Can you bring us back to that first moment when you decided to start Beagle Freedom Project.

Shannon Keith:

Thank you, yes. It was definitely one of the greatest moments of my life and something that I’ll never forget because it was one of those moments that you look back on and say, “Wow that changed my entire life.” So obviously my entire life has been built around saving animals and I feel that that’s really why I’m here…that’s the reason for my very existence. But yeah, I received a phone call and I was told about these beagles in the laboratory who needed to get out and it was sort of a chain of events like a call from a person and a person and a person and it kind of trickled down to me. Vivisection has always been one of those issues that touched me the most.  Of course all forms of animal cruelty bother me but for some reason animal testing has been like my deepest fight and I could not believe that there were these beagles in a laboratory who had the chance to get out, and that of all the people on this chain nobody was able to get them out or could get them out and so I jumped at the chance of course. And so that phone call was just sort of a dream come true. That was December 20, 2010 and the rescue happened on December 23, 2010 and that completely changed everything and spawned Beagle Freedom Project.

Hansen:

What was your reaction to meeting the dogs for the first time because I can imagine that was super emotional.  I mean for me whenever I see the dogs have freedom for the first time in videos I sometimes cry because–just to fathom the fact that they’ve never been outside a cage before– is just super emotional for me to think about.

Shannon:

So that was incredibly emotional. It was overwhelming. And I’m so glad that I just grabbed my little tiny camera. I mean back then that was before like i phones and stuff and so I just happened to bring it. I wasn’t even thinking about filming it and so anyone can watch it now on YouTube. It’s our very first rescue. And you know I fantasized about it. You know I played it over and over head as my friends and I were going up there to get these dogs. I thought, okay, they’re going to be so scared, you know, they’ve been living in a laboratory their entire lives and they been tested on… they’ve never been outside. So in my head I envisioned… I’m going to open up the crate and they’re just going to run… they’re going to be so excited…they’re just going to be running and doing zoomies and it’s going to be the best day of their lives.  And it was just the very opposite that happened.

So we met the person from the laboratory at her house actually because it was in northern California.

We flew up there and then we rented a car to drive back home. And we met her at her home.  There were two beagles. They were both in crates in the back of her car. They were shaking uncontrollably. They were salivating. They had already defecated in their crates and we wanted to let them out in her yard first before we drove home so we brought the crates into her back yard and we opened up the crate doors and they just stood there shaking uncontrollably and would not exit the crates because that is all they ever knew. They were squinting. They had never been outdoors. She worked at the lab and she told us, “They’re not going to know how to walk.” These are dogs who are over two years old. I was like, “What do you mean they’re not going to know how to walk?” She said, “Well I mean they’ve never been outside.” And I mean these are things that I thought I already knew. I had been doing this my whole life…like what do you mean they’re not going to know how to walk…are you serious? And you know I edited the video obviously but it took about twenty minutes for that first dog to finally take his first step out of that first crate and when he finally did I mean we were all crying. And then he walked over to the other beagle and touched his nose and then the other beagle then he finally took his step out because he had the bravery to step out of his crate. But it was unbelievable…those first few moments where they were just too scared enter the outside world.

Hansen:

One of the most frequent questions I get personally when I’m talking to people about dog research and beagles is why beagles? I’ve had beagles in my personal life for seventeen years and so to me they’re the sweetest goofiest, kindest dog I’ve ever owned and I’ve owned other breeds and I love all my other dogs you know, but beagles are just extra sweet and extra gentle.  So I was hoping, since maybe not everybody understands why we’re using beagles in research, I was hoping you could explain that.

Shannon:

Yeah definitely. And a lot of that also came from that first rescue. We were just talking to this woman from the lab and she said they use them because they’re so docile and they’re so forgiving, and I said, “What do you mean?” And she said, “Well just look at them. They just let you do whatever you want to them.” And I came to learn that that was very true. Beagles have the best nature like you said. They’re so sweet and so they are exploited for the very reason that they have such a great temperament and such a great nature. They will not fight back. They’re not going to bite you. Of the thousands of beagles we’ve rescued when you pick them up they go limp your arms because that is what they’re used to doing. We’ve been told they’re also the perfect size for cages, for feeding…unfortunately all of these reasons are the reasons that they’re used for testing.

Hansen:

And what kind of tests are these are the dogs being used? I don’t want to get too graphic but also I believe listeners have a right to know and to understand the realities of what’s going on in those laboratories for these dogs right now.

Shannon:

Yeah they do, and I’m glad that you asked that question because people still don’t know. I call it the industry’s dirty secret. The animal testing industry has billions of dollars and they have great ways of hiding the truth from people and we’re here to expose that. It’s difficult because no matter how much we try to expose it they have the money and the means hide it. And so you can walk into any mall today and go up to any Loreal counter and ask the woman behind the counter, “Do you test on animals?” and she’ll say, “No” because she honestly believes “no we don’t test on animals.” Your company, the company you’re working for tests on animals. People believe that animal testing ended in the nineties or that we only test sometimes on rabbits or rats even though that’s wrong as well, right? It’s a widely held belief that dogs and cats aren’t tested on that is absolutely not true. And so to answer your question, beagles and other breeds of dogs are tested on for a large variety of things. They are tested on for pharmaceuticals, for medical devices, sometimes for cosmetics and for a lot of other really hideous psychological experimentation as well, and just scientific curiosities which are beyond disgusting like the one we just revealed at Envigo. Your typical kind of toxicology testing is really very common with beagles.  Basically any kind of a drug that you take is going to be tested on dogs.

Hansen:

And the reality for these dogs is that that’s all they know. That it’s an unpleasant experience and painful. So just speaking honestly, if you’re going to dose dogs with drugs at different doses–sometimes really high doses– I mean that’s just got to make them so sick. I struggle with that all the time thinking like oh my god these dogs are feeling sick all the time because how could they not?

Shannon:

Right, and that’s the point is to make them feel sick because that’s how they test the drug. And what people also don’t know is that they do the dosing through something called oral gavage and that’s where they take a tube that looks like a hose and they shove it down their throats– down their esophagus–and that’s something that they typically do without anesthesia, without pain medication. They’ll do it when the dogs are fully conscious in pain…screaming. You can imagine what that feels like if that were being done to you—how painful and uncomfortable that would be. The point is to make them sick. To make them vomit. To make them pass out. To see how long it takes for them to either get violently ill or die. A lot of these tests are done by companies that are called CROs–Contract Research Organizations—so they’re private laboratories that are hired by these big organizations to do specific tests for a specific amount of time. Their protocol is to kill them afterwards whether or not they are healthy and that’s the really sad part about all of this too, and that’s the other thing that people don’t realize is that they can be perfectly healthy dogs but the protocol is to kill them because they don’t want their trade secrets out there. They’re afraid that somehow their secret is going to get out about what we did to them and they’re going to find out about a certain drug or something like that. Or they’re going to see certain injuries on a dog and know what was done to them somehow and that’s the reason why they don’t want these animals released. The industry doesn’t want the Beagle Freedom Bill. That’s why the industry hates Beagle Freedom Project. They hate us. They don’t want to release dogs to us at all.  They want to release them and dump them at the shelter. They don’t want to release a period, but if they’re going to do it they’re going to be forced to do it because of the Beagle Freedom Bill. They want them to go to places that know nothing about what was done to them.  They want them to just be dumped somewhere they hate us and they don’t want people to know that anything was done to them

Hansen:

So to me that’s a huge challenge, just trying to get dogs out of laboratories.

Shannon:

It’s a huge challenge but it always has been and it became bigger once we started our legislation which I always knew it would be. So my point was never to always be able to rescue animals from laboratories because it was never to always put a band aid on the situation. It was to end animal testing. So what I thought from the very beginning was…okay we’re going to be able to rescue animals for about a couple of years…we’re going to raise all of this awareness…these animals will be our ambassadors for change…this is how people are going to learn that dogs and cats—like the ones who are family members—are being tested on. Then people are going to care. Then we’re going to start changing laws. Then we’re never going get animals again because the industries–they’re not going to trust us. They’re going to hate us. Which is essentially what happened, however, we’re still able to get animals out of laboratories—we’re just able to get them out in a different way. It’s totally legal it’s just different.

And now we have all these other copy-cat organizations which it’s great. They’re doing what we’re doing and they’re able to get them out and they’re not political like we are, so good on you…and we’re going a different route and we’re changing laws and doing what we initially wanted to do so it’s fine. I don’t mind us not getting out as many animals as we used to but we actually still are, but it’s going to slow down.

Hansen:

I get that. So you’re kind of coming at it from a different angle. Since we’re talking about the politics and the Beagle Freedom Bill can you share a bit about what’s going on right now with your advocacy work since that’s where like seems like your focus has really gone, and I think that’s personally super important because laws is changing is when this whole thing is going to change.

Shannon:

Exactly. The thing is that obviously rescue is wonderful and amazing for all of those individual lives and I would never take that away and that’s been essential and wonderful for us for the past eleven plus years, but that just can’t keep going on. We’ve got to end this. And it’s difficult to do both because you can’t work sort of with a laboratory or with laboratories and also work to end animal testing. Those two do not go hand in hand because once you work to end animal testing the laboratories won’t work with you to release the animals. Period. It’s just those two don’t go together. So our advocacy is really taking front and center stage now moving forward and which is why we started Open Cages Naming Names this year which is a big step towards completely being in your face…releasing all the evidence that we’ve collected over the last eleven years against all these facilities to really go after them and completely shut it all down. I believe that we have enough evidence now to let the government know that this needs to end. It needs to end now, and I mean it’s of course an uphill battle, but we have a lot and I’m excited to release it step by step. Of course this cannot happen overnight as we’ve seen, but we’re poised right now where enough people care. It’s in the media now. People on all sides of the political party care about it and they’re mad. I get calls from politicians—Republicans, Democrats, everyone—and they want to do something. And we’re ready. The world is ready now.

Hansen:

For your Open Cages Naming Names campaign, one of the first companies that you shine a light on is Envigo and that undercover footage of beagle puppies and mothers suffering inside filthy cages and other horrifying footage of severe animal neglect was all over social media and it put it into the public eye, and that wasn’t the only undercover video that’s recently surfaced on social media.  So I feel like there’s a ton of pressure now on these companies because it’s all coming to light…the darkness that’s been hidden for so long–thank god—is coming to light. Can you talk a little bit about Envigo right now?  What can you publicly say about what’s happening with them?

Shannon:

Yeah. I don’t know why Envigo has not been closed by the USDA, or its license completely revoked. Yeah, so I’m so excited about all the evidence out there and I’m so grateful to the other organizations who have gone undercover and put the information out there. We wanted to focus on one of the specifically hideous protocols that they’ve done to the nursing mothers and you know the other things they’ve done defrauding the public. Envigo is of course one of many and owned by Inotiv and has these different facilities where they don’t just breed but they test, and they do horrific testing there. There is absolutely no excuse for these facilities to still be in business when the USDA has done inspection after inspection, found horrific violations of the Animal Welfare Act that go just beyond anything…I mean these are grossly unacceptable violations…these are hideous. They’ve given them days to correct. They’ve come back and they not only found the same violations but they’ve found even worse violations. This place not only should have been shut down, license permanently revoked, but these people actually should have been put in jail for animal felony abuses. The fact that nothing has been done is disgusting. It’s an embarrassment. I’m embarrassed.

Hansen:

Since we’re talking about this… and I forget what year it was in…but there was a facility that reminded me a lot of Envigo called Green Hill in Italy and they had similar animal welfare violations where so many puppies–thousands of puppies—were dying every year inside this research breeding facility and they actually shut that place down and they got all three thousand beagles adopted.  It was a huge rescue operation but this reminds me of that. Wouldn’t that be awesome if that could happen here? 

Shannon:

It would be amazing. It would. Unfortunately, the laws are so different in different countries right, like in Italy it was so cool.  You had activists sort of storming the place and taking the dogs and the consequences for those actions were not as severe as they would be here in the United States. So you have that. But damn, it would be super cool.

Hansen:

I’ve always wondered…what’s a typical day like for Shannon Keith?  Because you’re one of my heroes and because I share this issue with you deeply in my heart.  You know I do my thing but you’re out there on the front lines. How do you balance the political advocacy projects and rescuing dogs, and have a life?

Shannon:

It depends. You know we have a great office here in Los Angeles, California where I go to several days of the week and so sometimes I’m at the office, sometimes I’m not, sometimes I’m in the field, sometimes I’m working from home…it just depends. I definitely work a lot on legislation and what bills I want to be bringing up and working on with different people in different states. I try to keep us as relevant as possible all over the media to make sure that people are talking about animal testing and our app because our app—Cruelty Cutter– is a great way for people to shop cruelty-free and that opens the door for people to do more research on their own, and what I’ve learned is that when people do that then they learn and because they sort of do it on their own stick with it you know and they don’t feel like it’s been pushed on them, right? And they love it. Working with different facilities which I still do. We still have a great relationship with several animal testing facilities with people who work there who contact us for updates to contact us with animals to be released. There are few across the United States who have dogs, rabbits, some farm animals and you know we work with them on when they can be released, how they can be released, how we’ll negotiate that and do that.

I still reach out to some who have released to us in the past to try to just say, “Hey we’re here. Don’t forget about us. If you don’t want to work with us, here’s someone else you can work with.” We do a lot of rescues with South Korea. We have a partner there with beagles who are in laboratories. There’s a great network called Beagle Rescue out there and they do tons of rescues from laboratories in South Korea. And then working with my crew, you know with my amazing, amazing crew at BFP, having meetings with them and working with them on our campaigns.

Hansen:

This kind of ties into your work. I know that I’m personally deeply affected by being surrounded by this topic of dogs suffering in laboratories. It’s something I think about every day. You’ve been closer to this issue than most people every day for twelve years, so how do you cope and let this overwhelm you?  I know that I’m not the only one who feels this way. You know people are crushed when they see these videos on social media.  They feel helpless and hopeless and angry and they feel hatred and they feel every feeling you can feel. Those feelings take an emotional toll right?  So how do you keep going?

Shannon:

You know, some days are harder than others. Channeling my energy into this work actually.  I know it kind of doesn’t make sense because the work is what is difficult.  However channeling it into the work, into the fight, is what helps me. So those days that are particularly difficult where…for example, I’ll give you a good example… a few weeks ago I got a message from someone who I’ve worked with in the past and she sent me a horrible video of these beagles in a laboratory where she was and it was so sad, and she said, “Can you help me? I have to get them out.” I said, “Yes of course,” and we’re working on that right now, but that video was so disturbing…you know it was just so disturbing…I wanted to just bust in right then and there right but of course you can’t do that and so I needed a minute…like okay [sigh]…and then my brain switches to fight mode. Okay we’ve got Beagle Freedom Project, we’ve got the resources, we’ve got the people, we’ve got people like you, we’ve got our volunteers and our supporters. We know what to do. We’re going to get them out. We’re going to put it out there. We’ve got everybody who cares and we’re going to fight for them. And I just put it all into that and you know my adrenaline gets going and my anger builds up and I’m just ready to go. Let’s put out a press release. Let’s get an e-blast going. Let’s just put all of our resources into this and get creative.  What can we do about it? And I don’t know…call me crazy…but that’s like how I deal with it. I mean obviously I need to work-life balance more but when I get upset and see things like that I’m like okay we’re going to fight for this. So instead of like sitting and crying I get like through it by fighting for it, because I know we can do something about it. I react by going: we’re going to fight for this…and we can do something about it

Hansen:

Okay, switching gears a little bit, if somebody wants to foster or adopt a beagle from Beagle Freedom Project how would they go about doing that? What’s the process between rescuing a dog from a research facility and then someone picking up their dog?

Shannon:

This is the fun part. So of course we don’t always know when we’re going to get dogs, when we’re going to be rescuing dogs, and so you know we get that question a lot like: When am I going contacted? Are all your dogs on your website? No, they’re not because a lot of them are confidential and also we don’t know when we’re going to get our next one [dog] so we always say if you’re interested in fostering or adopting just please fill out an application now so you’re in our program. So go to our website bfp.org/rescue or adopt and fill out the form so you’re in our system. And then when we have a rescue in your area then that’s when we go to your application and we read it and check it out and we’ll contact you. That’s like the first step. You probably won’t get to meet your beagle or your dog ahead of time. It’s just how it works. You know these are dogs who are just special needs. We don’t meet them ahead of time. Typically let’s say we have a rescue at a laboratory in San Diego, they come to our home office and you come there and witness their first steps of freedom. You’re there with the other fosters who have been chosen and you’re chosen because you’re somebody who is open minded, you believe in our cause passionately, you are already cruelty-free or you are willing to learn and have a cruelty-free home and that means no products tested on animals because that would not make sense, and you are okay with a dog who does not know the difference between right and wrong, who does not understand the English language, who is going to pee and poo all over… all of these things that you’re going to have to teach this dog… and a dog who really is not going to be making eye contact. We call it the beagle breakthrough. It’s going to take maybe a few weeks with the younger ones, maybe just a few days, but they’re so scared and they don’t understand connection because they made sure they didn’t make that connection in the laboratory. But then one day when they make it, it is the most amazing feeling in the world and every foster we’ve had has said like that is like the greatest feeling they’ve ever had when that dog makes that connection and they breathe that sigh of relief and they know that there’s trust there and love finally and they have made that bond. So it’s getting to that point.  

Hansen:

I’ve witnessed that myself with my own laboratory research rescues, and it is most the special moment. Life is full of special moments but that is extra special. I can’t really explain exactly why. Maybe you can explain why?  Because I’ve spoken with many people who have adopted laboratory research dogs and these people…their entire lives actually… change for the better, and when they talk about their research dog their eyes light up… they start to smile… and they’re so proud and it’s like you could just feel the energy of love pouring off of them… all because of this dog.  What is that exactly?

Shannon:

You’re so right the way you describe it. It’s so on point. I don’t know. It is literally this intangible thing. We have a private group on Facebook now for all of our fosters and adopters it’s like over a thousand people and I mean you can’t go through it fast enough because you’ll miss a post because it’s just everyone gushing about their babies. I mean we’ve formed so many families and best friends and people fly to each other’s houses for reunions and it’s just love. So much love and happiness and lives changed. I don’t know…all I can think of is…it’s like these dogs have gone through the worst kind of trauma one can imagine, or can’t even imagine right?  I’m Jewish and I have family from The Holocaust with the tattooed numbers on their arm and when I look at the tattoos and the ears like that’s what I think about, and for me hearing stories from The Holocaust and concentration camps for me that’s sort of what I think about and I think about being a survivor…if they could talk. Having that love and having that trust… I always say we have so much to learn from them because I know as humans there isn’t that trust but the dogs do show that trust and that love, and I think that’s what makes that so special.

Hansen:

I wanted to ask you a little bit about your film Sanctuary.  In this case your film is about primates who are living an unnatural life in captivity in homes or in cages or in a laboratories. What inspired you to make this film?

Shannon:

You know I was thinking about the concept of sanctuary. Obviously sanctuaries are one of those things that are required but I feel sometimes…how do I say this… they are used incorrectly. So I wanted to explore the issue of sanctuary. What is a sanctuary like and what is “sanctuary?” I thought that it would be great to be able to tell the stories of some primates who live in sanctuary and weave together the different sort of issues and struggles and of course exploitive ways unfortunately society treats animals through vivisection and the exotic pet trade through these stories and really educate the public about those through different sanctuaries and have that be something people really think about and then learn as well. And, I don’t know that there’s an answer you know because obviously with these animals there’s really no place else to go but sanctuary but you know I just I thought it was a neat thing to explore and something to look at and something to learn about, and these primates were just amazing. I had the best time traveling and filming these sweet, sweet souls who I just absolutely fell in love with. It was an amazing experience.

Hansen:

It was a really wonderful film.  Honestly, I highly recommend anyone to watch it. And there’s a part in the film that includes footage of a primate research laboratory and a gentleman who used to work in that laboratory, and that of course struck me pretty strongly. One thing he said is, “I can’t tell you the name of the facility where I worked because my safety would be jeopardized.” And so that kind of brought it all back to this undercover world that we’re dealing with when we talk about research laboratories.

Shannon:

Right, exactly. I’ve gotten several letters and emails from whistleblowers who have a lot to say. This is some of the evidence that we will be exposing this year from people who are literally scared to death…who are so scared that it has taken them…some of them decades… to come forward and still will not reveal where they worked or their names. I mean the things they say that went on these places is…I mean you’ll vomit…it’s horrible.

Hansen:

And that’s why I am so thankful that we’re talking today because you know my personal goal is to bring these topics to the light.  I believe that in the light is where this will finally end.

Shannon:

Yes, exactly. And thank you so much for that. It has to be out there. People need to hear it. They need to they need to know, like you said, they need to know the truth no matter how hard it is to hear. That’s the only way we’re going to change anything is for people to hear it and to spread that message you hear. Tell somebody else please. Continue that.  People need to know.

Hansen:

And also that we all have a voice. You know every person that signs a petition or makes a phone call or talks to their representative in the government…it just doesn’t take a lot of time but every voice matters in my opinion.

Shannon:

Agreed. 100%. One person can make a huge difference.