You paid for it: Reports show NIH & University of Iowa inflicted pain on discarded dogs

06 March 2023 | Blog


Our newest #BeagleGate investigation exposes how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been wasting millions of tax dollars for deadly sandfly experiments on foxhounds who were discarded by their owners at a public university.

discarded dog experiments

Actual photo from NIAID’s discarded pet lab at the University of Iowa where capsules full of sand flies were strapped to the dogs’ ears so the insects could “feed” on the dogs.

Records obtained by White Coat Waste Project (WCW) show that white coats from the NIH and the University of Iowa rounded up over a dozen dogs, drugged them, strapped containers full of hungry sand flies to their skin, and locked the dogs in cages so the flies could bite them.  The heartless white coats then killed and dissected the dogs.

University officials have refused to disclose the sources of these dogs. They’ve also admitted to WCW that they destroyed many of the documents describing the experiments, but we’ve dug up some more receipts.

According to federal reports filed by the University of Iowa, from 2017 to 2019, the school subjected 16 dogs to these experiments, and the tests included significant pain and distress.

discarded dog experiments

These painful and deadly dog experiments are being funded by two active grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the NIH’s Fogarty International Center which have received close to $10 million in taxpayers’ money combined.

discarded dog experiments

A majority of taxpayers oppose the government’s wasteful dog experiments and want them defunded. Last year, we shut down NIAID’s misguided plans to test a runny nose drug on beagles, and have completely wiped out the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) painful dog tests.

Now, we’re working with Congress to pass the bipartisan Protecting Dogs Subjected to Experiments Act to PERMANENTLY DEFUND ALL NIH DOG EXPERIMENTS! You can help! 

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