The University of Missouri is defending its research practices after a national pet-adoption group publicly decried an experiment that led to six female beagles being euthanized. As detailed in April in the Journal of Veterinary Ophthalmology, the study said roughly 1-year-old beagles had their left eyes intentionally damaged while they were anesthetized. The university issued a statement saying the beagles were anesthetized during the procedure and were given pain medications if any discomfort was evident. That statement did not say whether its research animals commonly are euthanized. His group routinely files open-records requests in search of post-research candidate dogs for rescue and was looking through previously published reports about University of Missouri animal research when BFP happened upon the study involving the beagles.

Source: ABC News September 04, 2016 14:26 UTC