A quartet of professors at the University of Missouri-Columbia purposefully blinded six beagles — and then killed them after the research they were conducting failed to heal their wounded corneas.
That’s according to a paper published in the 2016 Journal of Veterinary Opthamology, which details the ineffective treatment and the dogs’ untimely end. The pups were just nine to twelve months at the time they endured the experiment and then were killed.
Dan Kolde is a St. Louis-based attorney for the Beagle Freedom Project, which seeks to rescue and protect the dogs, who are frequently used in scientific research. Even beyond his horror at the study, he says he’s horrified that the university failed to work with his group to rehome the dogs.
“We would have found them homes,” he says. “The Beagle Freedom Project would have happily taken these dogs.”
Mary Jo Banken, a spokeswoman for the university, defended the project, which sought to explore a particular type of treatment for corneal ulcers.
“Without animal research, we would not be able to answer some of the most important medical questions,” she told the RFT in an emailed statement. “Researchers at the University of Missouri are working to develop painless or non-invasive treatments for corneal injuries to the eyes of people and dogs, including search and rescue dogs and other service animals. Common injuries to the cornea can include force trauma, chronic defects and surgical procedures, and can lead to blindness. Since dogs share similar eye characteristics with people, they are ideal candidates for corneal studies, and veterinarians have provided vital information to physicians and veterinarians treating corneal injuries – which ultimately benefit other dogs, animals and humans, including many of our U.S. veterans who have sustained corneal injuries while defending our country.”