'Mission Accomplished' | Last of 4,000 beagles rescued from Va. breeding facility

WASHINGTON (WJLA) — The Humane Society of the United States announced Thursday the completion of a historic rescue mission: the last of nearly 4,000 beagles were rescued from a Virginia breeding facility.

"I think for so many of us, today is just a completion of a job well done and a reflection of how many people and organizations that it took to pull this off," said Lindsay Hamrick, Director of Shelter Outreach and Engagement for the Humane Society of the U.S.

7News spoke to Hamrick just hours after the Humane Society declared "Mission Accomplished."

She said 312 beagles were in Thursday's final group that was safely removed from the Envigo breeding facility in Cumberland, Virginia. The rescue operation began back on July 21 and lasted exactly six weeks from start to finish.

On average, we were pulling somewhere between 300 and 600 dogs each time we went to the Envigo facility," Hamrick explained. "When we were first notified we'd been asked to help with the transfer of almost 4,000 beagles, this was a monumental undertaking. We've never had to move this number of animals in such a short period of time."

The Humane Society credits the support of more than 120 local animal shelters and rescue organizations that assisted with the beagles' rescue.

Many of those, such as Homeward Trails Animal Rescue, are based here in the DMV. But in the end, it was a cross-country effort. Just this week, 7News showed you some of the beagles being loaded onto a plane in Maryland, bound for their new homes in California.

One more flight will depart soon, carrying another group of rescued beagles to Maine.When all is said and done, we will have placed them in 29 states across the country. And that is because of the huge outpouring of public support for these dogs, and the local organizations that knew they had plenty of adoptive homes to welcome them," Hamrick said.

The Humane Society says the Envigo facility in Cumberland, which is now shutting down, had been breeding the beagles to be sold to labs for animal experimentation.

According to the Humane Society, the beagles’ rescue is a direct result of a lawsuit filed against Envigo by the Department of Justice in May. The lawsuit alleged multiple Animal Welfare Act violations at the facility.

Hamrick hopes this rescue mission has also opened peoples' eyes to the issue of dogs being used for animal testing.

"I think a huge number of people in the public saw these cute beagles and wanted to know why this is even happening," she said. "And for the first time, many realized that these 4,000 dogs are just a fraction of the 60,000 that are used every year in this country for animal testing. I think the awareness around that issue has been one of the key takeaways."

In a news release announcing the rescue had wrapped up, Humane Society of the United States CEO Kitty Block echoed that message.

"Our Animal Rescue Team’s work to transfer these beagles is a milestone in a fight we’ve been waging for years," Block said. "Even as we celebrate these lucky dogs going to loving homes, we’re focused on creating a future where no dogs will face that kind of fate."

So while this rescue operation is now complete, Hamrick said there is more work to be done.

"We won't stop until these kinds of facilities don't exist," she said. "We will work until the end of animal testing, cosmetic testing, toxicity testing on these animals, and until that's replaced with much more reliable and humane alternatives."

For the latest information on how you might be able to foster or adopt one of the beagles rescued from the Envigo facility, click here.