For Immediate Release:
March 24, 2022
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
Cumberland, Va. – Indiana-based Envigo’s massive dog-breeding facility in Cumberland, Virginia, has been cited for animal welfare violation again: Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a third inspection report citing the company for 26 more violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, including 16 repeat violations. The report is from an inspection prompted by PETA’s complaint and undercover investigation into the facility. Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch:
Envigo has shown that it’s unwilling or incapable of providing the animals in its charge with basic, humane care and should lose its license to operate. The company’s rap sheet now includes killing conscious puppies via excruciating injections into the heart; denying dozens more dogs care for “severe dental disease” and “traumatic wounds”; neglecting “damp, shivering, and cold” puppies; and allowing “numerous serious dog fights” to occur right before inspectors’ eyes. This brings Envigo’s total federal violations to 65 in just four months, yet the USDA still hasn’t taken any enforcement action, including exercising its authority to suspend the company’s license or confiscating a single dog. The Virginia General Assembly just voted unanimously for five landmark bills that, once signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, will finally put some meaningful protection in place for the thousands of long-suffering beagles imprisoned at Envigo.
The USDA’s previous inspection in October—which was also prompted by PETA’s complaint—found that a puppy and dogs had been deprived of veterinary care for infections and sores, that puppies had died after falling into a drain or being trapped by the head in a cage door, and other violations. The agency found moldy feces in dog enclosures, up to 6 inches of feces piled in a gutter, and an “overpowering fecal odor” and “strong sewage odor” in the facility. Envigo, a global company valued at $545 million, was also cited for employing only 17 people to provide nearly 5,000 dogs at that time with direct care at its Virginia site, which produces 500 puppies per month.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
