FAIRFAX, Va. – July 12, 2022 – PRLog — Homeward Trails Animal Rescue, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides pet adoption in Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Maryland, today announced the rescue will be assisting with the transfer of 4,000 Beagles from breeding facility Envigo.
Following Virginia legislative actions and a 2021 PETA undercover investigation of the massive Envigo breeding factory in Cumberland, Virginia, Homeward Trails negotiated a deal to receive 500 beagles that had become surplus during the COVID-19 pandemic and place them for adoption starting in April 2022.
Following the initial rescue, the 2022 Virginia legislature unanimously passed several bills enforcing better treatment of the dogs at Envigo.
According to USDA reports, Envigo’s facility committed 70 animal rights violations, including more than 300 puppy deaths in the beginning of 2021 from unknown causes, inhumanely euthanizing puppies, severe skin problems and dental disease among dogs, as well as dogs wounded in dog fights. This led to further action by the United States Department of Justice, ultimately resulting in the closure of the Cumberland facility.
Senior United States District Court Judge Norman K. Moon approved a joint plan of the U.S. Department of Justice and Envigo to remove approximately 4,000 surviving dogs from the Cumberland, Virginia, facility. Homeward Trails is partnering with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to remove the Beagles and secure foster and adoptive homes for them in the next sixty days.
“This is one of the largest dog rescue efforts ever coordinated and has truly been a group effort. To know that these dogs will get to have the lives they deserve and not languish in cages for the rest of their lives is just so rewarding,” said Sue Bell, executive director of Homeward Trails. “For months now, we have witnessed first-hand the joy these dogs experience when their feet touch grass for the first time, they get a bone to chew on, and they experience love from a human being.”
In the next few weeks, Homeward Trails and HSUS will begin moving dogs off the premises. HSUS will be hosting an active website of the various groups that take in these Beagles by geography. To apply to adopt a Beagle in the Washington, DC area from Homeward Trails, email info@homewardtrails.org. Tax-deductible donations towards the medical care of these dogs can be made at www.homewardtrails.org
To learn more about Homeward Trails and its efforts to rescue animals, visit www.homewardtrails.org.
About Homeward Trails
Homeward Trails Animal Rescue is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides pet adoption in Virginia, Washington, DC and Maryland. We find homes for dogs and cats rescued from low-income, rural animal shelters or whose owners can no longer care for them; abandoned hunting dogs who are dumped in woods or left at shelters; owned pets whose owners can no longer care for them; and animals who have been injured, abused and neglected. We have helped internationally as well: we have rescued dogs from Thailand, China, Korea, Russia, Peru, Greece and Kuwait. And we have run a full-time program in Puerto Rico for 4 years, rescuing more than 450 dogs and providing Trap-Neuter-