Fort Collins Laboratory Closes; Nearly 70 Cats and Dogs Liberated: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
May 15, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch regarding the closure of Red Beast Enterprises Inc.—a Fort Collins laboratory doing business as the loftily named High Quality Research, which tested drugs and other products on animals in crude ways. Red Beast is releasing nearly 70 cats and dogs to Kindness Ranch, a Hartville, Wyoming, organization that rehabilitates animals used in experiments.

Finally out of their cages, Red Beast’s surviving victims will now have what every cat and dog deserves—the opportunity to experience joy, love, and respect as members of a family. PETA’s undercover investigation inside Red Beast found dogs and cats warehoused in bleak conditions, left to suffer from untreated ailments, and subjected to agonizing “debarking” mutilations without pain relief. PETA’s findings sparked federal regulatory action and widespread protests, in addition to paving the way for these cats and dogs to be liberated and this animal prison to finally be closed down.

PETA’s investigation of Red Beast prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture to cite the company for more than 200 violations of federal Animal Welfare Act regulations between February and July 2025. More than 50,000 people urged Dr. Sue VandeWoude, dean of Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, to reconsider allowing faculty—including Dr. Michael Lappin—to keep conducting experiments at Red Beast. PETA’s investigator also rescued Temple, a dog born at the notorious Ridglan Farms Inc. in Wisconsin—which was recently forced to surrender its license—and kept for two years in a barren pen at Red Beast. She has since been adopted into a loving home.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. Broadcast-quality video footage from the group’s investigation of Red Beast is available here, and photographs from the investigation are available here. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.