A company that breeds animals for medical testing has been fined a record $35m (£27m) after 4,000 beagles were rescued from its facility in Virginia in 2022.
The fine against Envigo RMS LLC for animal cruelty is the largest fine ever issued under the Animal Welfare Act, according to the US Department of Justice (DoJ).
“Envigo promoted a business culture that prioritized profit and convenience over following the law,” Christopher Kavanaugh, the US attorney for the Western District of Virginia, said in a statement.
“This callous approach led to dire consequences: the inhumane treatment of animals and the contamination of our waterway,” he said.
Envigo’s parent company, Inotiv, has agreed to pay the record eight-figure settlement. It has also agreed to not breed dogs for the next five years.
By committing the crimes it was charged with “and by not making the necessary infrastructure upgrades and hiring the requisite staff, we fell short of our standards for animal and environmental welfare and apologize to the public for the harm caused by our conduct,” Inotiv said in a statement on it’s website on Monday.
The breeding facility in Cumberland, owned by Envigo RMS, was sued in May by the US Department of Justice. The federal agency accused it of multiple acts of animal cruelty.
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Envigo
Envigo (en-VEE-go) is a privately held contract research organization and laboratory animal sourcer that provides live animals and related products and services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, government, academia and other life science organizations engaged in animal testing.[2] The company breeds and sells research animals – which are referred to in the industry as “research models”– including rodents (mice, rats, hamsters and guinea pigs), rabbits, beagles and non-human primates.[3] Envigo is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and employs more than 1,200 people at 30+ locations across North America, Europe and the Middle East.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envigo
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