Cruel and Unusual

MO Researchers Sued for Blinding Beagles

Animal rights group sounds alarm over 'disturbing' experiment.

University of Missouri researchers are facing a lawsuit over a "disturbing" experiment in which they intentionally blinded six beagles and then killed them. Kevin Chase, the vice president of Beagle Freedom Project, an animal rescue organization, called attention to the 2016 study after first suing university researchers for charging his group $82,000 to make copies of research projects. While going through the university's research, he said, he found data on a study in which researchers "killed these six beagles after purposefully damaging their corneas pouring an experimental acid into them and then killing them when they’re done because the experiment failed." The researchers were testing a treatment for corneal ulcers, but Chase argues that the study itself was deeply flawed. The researchers had chosen beagles as test subjects because "they’re docile, easy to handle, people pleasing and forgiving," Chase said. The university responded to Chase's criticism by saying all the animals used were treated humanely and "every effort was made to ensure dogs were as comfortable as possible during the tests to study the effectiveness of the new drug treatment.”