Camp Beagle obtained a transcript of a whistleblower’s account of working at Charles River’s Tranent Site.
Although it is a hard read it gives a valuable insight into what Charles River does in graphic detail to a variety of animals to include beagles and the effect that it had on the whistleblower.
I worked at Charles River for about 2 months in 2023. I worked mainly with the dogs in one building. They also had monkeys, pigs, mice, rats, guinea pigs, and even blue crabs that they used for blood collection.
I was cleaning cages, giving them food and water, and sometimes holding them still, close to me, when they were being forced to have the medications or to take their blood. I was mainly cleaning and managing their care. I wasn’t directly giving them the medication or doing the procedures myself.
There were a lot of dogs, hundreds, spread across several large pens and cages. They were kept in pens, sometimes in groups of 6. Sometimes up to 12 dogs in one big pen, divided into 4 smaller pens. They never had outdoor access, just a brief playtime in a small room for about 10 minutes.
They were given tablets or liquid medications through their mouth. They pushed a tube down their throats, and poured the liquid medication [gavage].
Sometimes, they forced them to swallow a big tablet, but often the dogs resisted. When the dogs refused, they held their mouth tightly closed until they swallowed it. It was upsetting to watch
They had some toys, but most of the dogs didn’t play with them. They didn’t seem to understand how to play with toys… The dogs mostly ran around when they were put in the small room, but when the medication was strong then the dogs could not play, they just sat quietly in their cages and looked at you. When they were given medications, they were kept in their cages, sometimes for days, I just gave them food.
Once, they only had one hour left to give the medication to the dogs, and this person was shouting and being rough with the dogs because the puppies did not want to take the medication, so I refused to hold the dogs. I was really unhappy with this person’s behaviour.
The dogs were sometimes bleeding, vomiting, or limping. We sometimes called the technicians upstairs, but they said they were fine, it was because of the medication they took. But sometimes when a dog was really bad, as in really bad, the technicians would call the veterinarian. They didn’t treat the dogs, they just killed them.
Working there changed me. I was very stressed and angry at everything and I couldn’t handle what I was seeing. I would see the puppies coming in the white vans, and when the experiments were done, the dogs were killed and thrown into yellow bags, just discarded. The puppies came at the beginning of the month, and after four weeks, maybe three, they all had been killed. I run away from there because I could not look at the puppies’ faces. I still have nightmares of the puppies in the cages.
It was especially heartbreaking when puppies were euthanised. On one occasion 12 puppies were killed while I was there, I saw them putting their bodies in yellow bags. They said the experiment was over or the medication didn’t work, so they just ended their lives. It was devastating.
They don’t have any love in there. Sometimes the technicians would be very angry because the dogs were resisting and trying to avoid what they’ve been doing to them. The people were getting frustrated because they couldn’t give the medication or take the blood. I saw them sometimes pushing and pulling at the dogs, or restraining them very hard, and when they finished the administration then they would just throw them back into the cages. The people were not gentle there. I saw that people didn’t have a heart, so I decided to leave. They don’t have feelings… they’ve been working there for like 20 years and they say that they like their job, how can they say that?
In one of the experiments, there were a lot of dogs, maybe 30, and they had some sort of heart monitor strapped around them. They were kept inside cages, inside of a room, and people were only allowed to go inside for a very restricted period to avoid the dogs getting excited to see someone coming in.
They have “long-term dogs”. They kept some dogs for 5-6 years for some of the experiments. Some had small gadgets inside them, possibly to monitor their hearts. I could feel them when I petted the dogs. They had even given names to these dogs, which was unusual.
It was hard to walk in and see the puppies inside the cages, but the dogs would be very excited to see me because they’ve been alone all night. They hardly ever saw anyone, so when I came in the morning they would be very loud and excited to see someone. It was very hard to witness. I just couldn’t handle the treatment of the dogs anymore. The rough handling, the killing of healthy dogs, the lack of care—none of it sat right with me. I couldn’t stay in an environment like that.
The dogs had tattoos and/or microchips in their ears. The tattoo was a number, I think, and the chip was injected with a syringe inside their ears.
They also took urine samples. They put the dogs in separate cages—one on top of the other—in a room with about 10-20 cages. They had something underneath the cages to collect the urine when the dogs peed.
They said the dogs couldn’t be adopted because they wouldn’t know how to live in a home. They used excuses like the dogs wouldn’t be able to adjust or would get sick. But it didn’t make sense. If they had just given them a chance, I believe they could have adjusted.
They made us keep our phones in our lockers, they said there had been people who had taken videos. We had to wear scrubs, gloves, and special shoes. They made sure we were fully covered before entering the areas with the animals.
It was hard to connect with people at the facility. They were all like a close-knit group, often family members, and the turnover was high. There were a lot of benefits, like private doctors and extra pay for night shifts, which made it hard to leave. We also had a doctor to check our hearing regularly because the dogs were loud, even with the earplugs we wore. The pigs were also loud during procedures. They would tell us that only one percent of the population is against animal testing, the rest of society is ok with it. During the interview process they showed us some videos about how they are helping children with cancer.
Our sincere thanks to the Whistleblower
The Camp Beagle Team