History of MBR

Although Marshall BioResources is an American multinational, it is also a family-owned and operated business founded in 1939 by Gilman Marshall, the grandfather of the current owner, Scott William Marshall. Gilman began breeding ferrets for hunting and the pet market, but he soon realised that ferrets were also valuable to local laboratories and subsequently focused his business entirely on breeding ferrets, which he claimed were “reared especially for laboratory use”.

The farm, based in North Rose, New York State, was run with the help of his nephews and teenage sons, and by 1960 they were shipping ferrets across the United States and abroad, including to Japan. To this day, Marshall remains one of the largest ferret breeders in the world.

Gilman Marshall founded Marshall BioResources in 1939.

Originally ferrets were sold for hunting and as pets.

Advised by his customers, Marshall was quick to respond to the increasing demand from toxicology laboratories for beagle dogs. In 1962, the Marshall Farm began breeding beagles from just one pair, and soon their first colony was established. This became an incredibly profitable addition to their business, and by 1976 they were selling over 6,500 dogs across the United States, generating more than $1 million in revenue. They became the largest retailer of laboratory beagles in the country and began exporting dogs across the globe. By 1990, Marshall’s holdings in North Rose housed over 12,000 dogs.

Their first breeding facility outside the United States opened in 1994 in Lyon, France. Around 2002, they acquired a breeding site in northern Italy known as Green Hill and established a sub-colony of beagles in Beijing, China. At the same time, Marshall in the United States added another animal species to their catalogue and began breeding mini-pigs.

In 2009, Marshall expanded into the United Kingdom, purchasing B&K Universal. At their premises in Grimston, near Hull, they began breeding beagles and ferrets. They also expanded into Japan, where they opened a breeding facility in Tsukuba.

In 2016, Marshall was forced to sell the Green Hill beagle breeding facility in Italy after the court seized over 2,500 dogs and sentenced the director, the manager and the veterinarian to prison for animal welfare violations. Marshall declared that Italy’s regulations were too restrictive, and instead of changing their breeding practices, they relocated their operations elsewhere.

In 2017, they purchased what is now MBR Acres in Wyton, near Huntingdon. UK legislation is so lenient that all the practices which, in Italy, led to the deaths of 93 puppies are currently in use at MBR Acres.

At present, Marshall breeds beagle dogs in five different countries: the United States, France, China, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Despite Marshall’s extensive history of animal welfare violations, the Home Office has granted the company both an establishment license and a project licence to harvest dogs’ blood and organs for sale to laboratories.

In addition to the scandal at Green Hill, inspectors from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have cited the company for more than 20 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. These breaches frequently relate to inadequate veterinary care and poor living conditions. During inspections, dogs have been found living in their own feces, infested with flies, and puppies have been observed being killed in front of one another. Yet here in the United Kingdom, MBR continues to receive government support.