Animal rights activists are calling on the University of Barcelona to stop the execution of 38 Beagle puppies planned soon. The University hired the services of the vivisection laboratory Vivitecnia to test some pharmacological products with the eight-month-old puppies, but once the tests end, they plan to kill them all. Activists say they can rehabilitate them, and the University should donate them to people willing to adopt them, as the law allows.
The fact that the lab they contracted is Vivotecnia has worried activists given its bad reputation. On 9th April 2021, an undercover investigation in this lab carried out by Carlota Saorsa and publicised by Cruelty Free International (CFI) was made public. It shows staff mocking the suffering of the animals they experiment with, killing individuals in the presence of others, performing tests without anaesthesia, denying animals compassionate sedation, and inflicting unnecessary suffering on them. As a consequence, after other official investigations, the government of the Community of Madrid decided to suspend any research activity of the laboratory. It is shocking how the University of Barcelona has ignored all this, and nevertheless contracted, through Parc Científic, the services of Vivotecnia, to test dogs for 28 days.
Although the University says it must kill the puppies to perform their necropsies, activists say they don’t need to do it with everyone, and they should leave some alive so they could be rehoused. They cite article 30 of RD 53/2013 of February 1, 2010/63/EU, which establishes that at the end of the experimentation the dogs are rehoused and given up for adoption.
If you want to help save these dogs you can write, as soon as possible, to the University asking not to kill them and give them up for adoption. An example of the text in Spanish could be: “Les rogamos que liberen a los Beagles como consta en el artículo 30 del RD 53/2013, de 1 de febrero, 2010/63/UE, que establecen que al final de la experimentación se realoje y dé en adopción a los perros”. The University emails are rectorat@ub.edu and fbg@fbg.ub.edu. You can also send a direct message on Instagram to @unibarcelona.
