Controversial Taxpayer-Funded Studies On Beagles Ended By NIH
on May 06, 2025
Beagles Were Allegedly Being Tortured For Science
Whether it’s the testing of cosmetics or experimental drugs, the involvement of animals has often raised ethical concerns.
In recent years, there has been one animal that has received special attention: beagles.
These dogs were allegedly being tortured in studies paid for by taxpayer dollars.
On Sunday, May 4, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health of the United States, was a guest on the Fox News program Fox & Friends, and he provided an update on the status of these tests.
Bhattacharya, who was confirmed as NIH director on March 25, was asked about challenges in changing the culture at NIH, and he replied, “I put out a policy to make sure that, when we have animals in research, that we look at alternatives.”
Noting that it is “easy to cure Alzheimer’s in mice,” he added, “Those things don’t translate to humans, so we put forward a policy to replace animals in research with other technological advancements — AI and other tools — that actually translate better to human health.”
With that decision comes the end of experimentation on beagles at the NIH campus, he said.
This change at NIH led to Bhattacharya receiving flowers from an unexpected source: PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
“Normally, I think, NIH directors tend to get physical threats, but [PETA] sent me flowers,” Bhattacharya quipped.
His decision to end these studies follows the House Oversight Committee’s determination back in February that “the federal government wastes millions of taxpayer dollars on unapplicable, unnecessary testing that is cruel to animals.”
Watch his full appearance on Fox & Friends here:
NIH Director @DrJBhattacharya says the agency stopped the beagle experiments on the NIH campus — and that @PETA even sent him flowers. pic.twitter.com/koFbZ9e9M9
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 5, 2025
Allegations Of Animal Abuse
The focus on taxpayer-funded drug testing on beagles largely goes back to 2018, with details on reports of animal abuse increasing from 2021 to 2024.
In 2021, a bipartisan effort to learn more about the alleged studies was advanced by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-SC, citing research conducted by White Coat Waste Project and media outlets.
Mace and other U.S. representatives addressed a letter to Dr. Anthony Fauci, then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), seeking answers on taxpayer-funded cordectomies allegedly conducted on 44 beagles from October 2018 to February 2019.
This study allegedly cost NIAID a total of $1.68 million in taxpayer funds for these 44 dogs to be inject with and force fed “an experimental drug for several weeks, before killing and dissecting them.”
The dogs allegedly received cordectomies so that researchers would not have to hear the dogs bark in pain, with Mace’s letter stating, “This is a reprehensible misuse of taxpayer funds.”
Later reports involved dogs in Tunisia, North Africa, having their faces bitten by flies to study the spread of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis.
Upon hearing of the change in NIH’s policy, Rep. Scott Perry, R-PA, posted on X, formerly Twitter, “Agencies like the NIH, DOD, and CDC spend a staggering $20 BILLION annually on experimental animal testing in and outside of the US. While genuine medical research is critical, I’m pleased about NIH’s move to limit unnecessary experimentation on “man’s best friend.”
Similarly, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA, posted on X, “Mr. Fauci’s evil lab has FINALLY been shut down. Beagles & dog owners across America are celebrating the END of this cruelty.”
Restoring The Public’s Trust Of NIH
“It’s sort of like people don’t trust the NIH,” Bhattacharya told Fox & Friends.
But why has NIH lost the public’s trust?
Bhattacharya offered the following answer, saying, “The NIH, during the [COVID-19] pandemic, leaned into lockdowns, school closures, all these things, so I think there’s still a level of distrust that the American people have for the NIH that I’m hoping, under President Trump, we can reverse.”
Part of restoring that trust, he says, is found in the commitment the Trump administration has made to “follow[ing] the science, no matter what it says,” as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a press conference on April 16.
“The main goal I have is exactly what President Trump and Secretary Kennedy have,” Bhattacharya said. “I want to make the NIH work for the American people. Instead of focusing on politicized ideologies, DEI, or whatnot, instead, we should be focused on the conditions that actually afflict Americans.”
Citing the newly announced study on the cause of autism, as well as efforts to diminish the prevalence of chronic disease, he stated, “[There will be] no thumb on the scale saying that we have to exclude thinking about this or that — we’re going to get an honest answer.”
In conjunction with the confirmations of Trump’s cabinet members and their shared goal to Make America Healthy Again, the White House recently published a new page on its website.
By visiting whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true-origins-of-covid-19/, Americans can easily access the report released by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.
While released on December 4, 2024, in the final full month of the Biden administration, the White House sharing this document under the Trump administration reflects its trust in the report — namely that COVID-19 derived from a lab leak in Wuhan, China.
“A lab-related incident involving gain-of-function research is the most likely origin of COVID-19,” the website summarizes.
