By Natalia Lima / Source: Ecorazzi

Tens of thousands of animals are used in research labs in the United States every year and a new campaign aims to expose what they go through on a daily basis.

The Beagle Freedom Project, a California-based organization that fights for the most used breed in experiments, has launched the ‘Identity Campaign’ to release details on what goes on in research labs across the country.

The campaign asks for people to ‘adopt’ a specific research animal listed on the organization’s website. After paying $50, the ‘adopter’ receives a stainless steel tag with the animal’s ID number, a fill-in-the-blank record request and a stamped envelope addressed to the university where the animal is being used as a test subject. That request form asks for “any and all intake records, transfer records, daily care logs, animal health records, treatment and progress reports, veterinary reports, necropsy reports, photographs, and videos related to this animal (January 1, 2013-present),” and any research protocols that relate to the animal.

“You’re an advocate for this animal,” explained one of the ‘adopters,’ Nicole Stundzia of Rochester, Minnesota. “You’re trying to get the animal released to you once testing is completed. That’s what we’re fighting for. That’s why we’re trying to get records.”

The public universities that receive those requests are required by the Freedom of Information Act to release the details on the animals and the Beagle Freedom Project will then use the info to educate the public on what animal experiments entail.

The organization has also fought in the past for getting research animals not just figuratively but literally adopted and it succeeded. Since 2013, nine retired research dogs have been given a second chance at life in Minnesota, for example, with the help of the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley. The animals, however, don’t have their history labeled, which is what the ‘Identity Campaign’ seeks to repair.

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