Update:
Following strong public advocacy, eight healthy horses have been saved from a fatal surgical training exercise at Washington State University.

However, the horses are now being held at an undisclosed facility under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and remain at risk of killing or transfer to another research facility.

Beagle Freedom Project is urgently calling on the public to contact the USDA and demand the horses be released immediately.

https://bfp.org/stop-wsu/ 

Original Press Release:

Beagle Freedom Project Calls on Washington State University to Spare Horses and Goats from Terminal Surgical Labs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Shannon Keith, President, Beagle Freedom Project, Email: shannon@bfp.org

Los Angeles, CA — March 11, 2026 — Veterinary students, professionals, and animal welfare advocates are calling on Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine to immediately cancel a controversial surgical training lab that will unnecessarily end the lives of eight healthy, adoptable horses and approximately sixty goats. The animals are scheduled to be used in a “terminal laboratory” — a veterinary training exercise in which animals undergo invasive surgical procedures and are killed afterward.

The harrowing situation was revealed after a senior veterinary student asked university leadership whether the animals involved in the lab could be adopted rather than killed. The student was initially told that adoption was prohibited under USDA policy.

However, no such policy applies to healthy animals in Washington State. Records later obtained through a formal request to the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicate that the horses scheduled for WSU’s terminal laboratory are healthy and disease-free and therefore eligible for adoption — contradicting the university’s claims that federal law requires the animals to be killed.

Additional documentation related to the training exercise has also drawn scrutiny. Protocols used to approve the terminal laboratory indicated that animals used in the exercise would come from sources already destined for slaughter. Veterinary students later discovered that the horses scheduled for the procedure are coming from a USDA research facility, not a standard slaughter pipeline.

Animal welfare advocates say the discovery has raised serious concerns among veterinarians, students, and members of the public who believe the animals’ deaths are entirely needless. Advocates also say the training exercise raises questions about how veterinary students are being trained. The surgical procedure planned for the horses is not a required competency for graduating veterinarians, raising concerns about why healthy animals must be killed for a nonessential exercise.

“Veterinary students need ample live tissue handling experience, but they need that experience on patients who need care under the guidance of experienced surgeons,” said Crystal Heath, D.V.M., Executive Director of Our Honor, a nonprofit organization and network of animal-rights- focused veterinarians and professionals aiming to reform the veterinary industry. “These students are being denied the ability to practice post-anesthesia recovery on these animals who will be killed. Across the country, veterinary schools have increasingly transitioned away from terminal laboratories and toward programs where students perform medically necessary surgeries for community animals under supervision. These programs provide hands-on surgical experience while also delivering lifesaving veterinary care.

“We are facing a rural veterinary shortage and not enough veterinarians to meet the needs of farmed animals,” Heath added. “Washington State University should be meeting the needs of the community byteaching students on patients who need care, not wasting resources by killing healthy animals.” Senior veterinary medicine student and whistleblower at WSU, Larrea Cottingham, stated that "an access-to-care model—where students perform surgeries on animals who genuinely need them — would provide far more meaningful and repeated experience than a single course that relies on terminal labs ever could."

Beagle Freedom Project, a nonprofit dedicated to ending animal testing and rescuing animals from experimentation, is urging Washington State University to cease the scheduled terminal lab and work with rescue organizations, sanctuaries, and veterinary advocates to rehome the animals immediately and put an end to their terminal lab studies.

"In May, I will graduate from veterinary school at Washington State University (WSU). While I am proud of this accomplishment, I am embarrassed to be graduating from a school that still defends the use of terminal labs,” concluded Larrea, speaking on her time at WSU.

Beagle Freedom Project President and Founder, Shannon Keith, maintains that “Compassion and scientific progress should go hand in hand. There is still time for WSU to choose a just, humane path and allow these animals to live. Beagle Freedom Project is ready and willing to take all of these animals in atour sanctuary.”

About Beagle Freedom Project
Beagle Freedom Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to rescuing and rehoming animals used in laboratory testing and advocating for an end to animal experimentation. Since 2010, BFP has freed thousands of animals and continues to lead the fight for animal rights through rescue, legislation, education, and advocacy.
BFP.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 9, 2025 

Contact: Jason Bayless 818-382-6500 x 29 Jason@bfp.org 

Los Angeles, CA — Beagle Freedom Project (BFP), the leading organization fighting to free animals from testing labs, has launched a new campaign demanding that PetSmart cut ties with Marshall Pet Products, a company that funds world’s largest suppliers of animals to laboratories: Marshall BioResources. 

Marshall BioResources breeds and sells dogs, cats, ferrets, non-human primates, hamsters, pigs, guinea pigs, and mice for use in research experiments. Investigations and government reports have exposed disturbing and repeated instances of cruelty, neglect, and blatant violations of federal animal welfare laws at their facilities. These include: 

• A kitten killed after medical injuries were ignored 

• Animals confined in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions 

• Chronic stress, untreated illnesses, and preventable deaths 

• Breeding of dogs with genetic abnormalities; including enlarged hearts and missing limbs 

• Ferrets discarded during cleaning operations and fed contaminated food due to rusted machinery 

• Puppies housed in unsafe enclosures with known injury risks 

Despite this appalling record, PetSmart continues to sell products from Marshall Pet Products, allowing Marshall to profit from animal lovers while perpetuating suffering behind the scenes. 

“PetSmart customers would be horrified to learn that their purchases help fund one of the largest and most abusive animal breeding operations in the world,” said Jason Bayless, Manager of Campaigns, Programs, and Advocacy at Beagle Freedom Project. “We're calling on PetSmart to make an ethical choice—cut the cruelty and cut ties with Marshall.” 

Beagle Freedom Project is urging the public to take immediate action by telling PetSmart they will not support animal abuse. Visit bfp.org/cut-the-cruelty to send a message demanding accountability and compassion. 

About Beagle Freedom Project 

Beagle Freedom Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to rescuing and rehoming animals used in laboratory testing and advocating for an end to animal experimentation. Since 2010, BFP has freed thousands of animals and continues to lead the fight for animal rights through rescue, legislation, education, and advocacy.