By Jessica Scott-Reid
Jessica is a Canadian writer, animal advocate and plant-based food expert. Her work appears regularly in media across Canada and the US.
When thinking about animals used in biomedical research, teaching and testing, images of mice, rats, rabbits and even monkeys typically come to mind. Often accompanying these images is the common misconception that without the use of those animals, humans would not have life-saving medicines and treatments. However, while current systems of biomedical research do require animal testing, over 90% of drugs tested to be safe and effective in animals go on to fail in human trials. Also, there is little awareness that out of the estimated 5,067,778 animals used in research, teaching, and testing in Canada in 2020, at least 8,338 were dogs.
The true number of dogs used in research in Canada is likely much higher. As Lori Cohen, director of operations for Beagle Freedom Canada — a registered charity that works in part to liberate and rehome dogs from labs — explains, those numbers come from the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC). The CCAC is a non-governmental organization that oversees the treatment of animals used in government funded research only.
But there are many private labs, says Cohen, not covered by the CCAC, “that are testing on dogs, on beagles, that most definitely that number from the CCAC in 2020 is likely quite a bit lower than what it really is.” And those private labs, she adds, “are very hush-hush. They don’t have to tell anyone what’s going on, so they have no incentive whatsoever to even follow CCAC guidelines,” guidelines, she notes, that are not required by law anyway – “it’s all voluntary.”
Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur/Animal Equality/We Animals Media
Another issue related to the use of dogs in research, testing and teaching in Canada, is where those thousands of animals are coming from. While many of the dogs used in labs are beagles, bred and selected specifically due to their docile nature, there is also an unspecified number of all kinds of dogs being bought from shelters and pounds.
While individual pounds and shelters (outside of Ontario) can opt to not supply animals to labs, there are no federal or provincial laws actually banning the practice. In Ontario, it is mandated by law that shelters and pounds must supply animals to research, testing and teaching, though some Ontario municipalities have created by-laws to counter this.
But as Liz White, director of Animal Alliance of Canada explains, deciphering what type of research these dogs are involved in is difficult. In some cases, it can simply mean shelter dogs are sent to teaching facilities to be spayed or neutered, then returned to shelters, or adopted out from the facilities. In other cases, it can mean torturous testing that results in the animals dying or being killed. “You can’t get any of that information publicly,” she says. Even for taxpayers funding municipal pounds, she says, there is no way to know what kind of treatment your money is ultimately paying for.
Cosmo is a lab test survivor who has been rescued and adopted. Many of these dogs suffer from various forms of PTSD as a result of their treatment in testing facilities. But they slowly adapt to a life of freedom they have never known. Photo: Beagle Freedom Canada
When speaking to Canadians about the use of dogs in research, and about Canada’s lack of laws overseeing the treatment of lab animals, Cohen says the response she often gets is: “‘I had no idea we were testing on dogs in Canada.’”
When she speaks to colleagues in the US, she says she is often met with: “’What do you mean you test on dogs in Canada? I thought Canadians were so nice.’” Perhaps this is because in the US, the treatment of dogs used in research falls under the federal Animal Care Act. The laws are largely considered weak and under-enforced by animal advocates but they can at least be used in some cases of egregious abuse.
For example, a 2017 undercover investigation of a lab in Quebec showed horrific instances of animal mistreatment but it resulted in no legal action. In the US, some cases of egregious abuse of animals used in research are met with legal ramifications. Most recently, a US district court judge ordered a breeding facility that supplies animals to labs to “immediately cease breeding, selling, or otherwise dealing in beagles” after an investigation revealed serious violations to the Animal Care Act. At least 145 beagles “in distress” were seized by federal officials.
It is estimated that an average of over 58,000 dogs are used in research and testing each year in the US.
Abby enjoying her first day home after being rescued and adopted from a research lab. Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur/The Ghosts In Our Machine/We Animals Media
Meanwhile in Canada, Beagle Freedom Canada continues to work not only to liberate and rehome dogs used in research, but also change the laws and educate the public. Part of that education, says Cohen, is highlighting alternative methods to bio-medical testing on animals. “It’s so awesome to be able to refer people to The Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods,” she says, speaking of the work of Dr. Charu Chandrasekera at the University of Windsor, Ontario.
Chandrasekera and her team are creating human-based alternatives to animal models using human stem cells and tissues, assembled to form tissue-like structures called organoids, or engineered through 3D-bioprinting. This “disease-in-a-dish” and “organ-on-a-chip” technology says Chandrasekera, will aid in the better understanding of how drugs and treatments function with actual human biology, not mouse – or dog— biology, and ultimately advance research and save animals from suffering.
So, it turns out that Canadians aren’t ‘too nice to test on dogs’ but if more of us talk about it maybe we can change that.