Max was born in the now-shuttered Envigo facility in Cumberland, Virginia. Envigo’s parent company pled guilty this week to violating the Animal Welfare Act must pay a record $22 million in fines.
It was the tattoo on Max’s ear that brought home to the Cavalier family everything their new foster beagle had been through in his short 8-month life.
Max was born in the Envigo facility in Cumberland, Virginia, which up until 2022 bred and sold dogs to laboratories for experimentation.
“It didn’t register to either of us until then that [these dogs] were treated like a number and like a commodity to be sold,” Beth Cavalier said. “Beagles are so gentle and sweet, it’s hard to wrap my mind around what they went through at that breeding facility, much less what happens when they are sold for research and testing. Max was in the sales pens. Had this gone another way …”
Luckily, in the spring of 2022, the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Envigo alleging violations of the Animal Welfare Act, and the Humane Society of the United States began working to remove 4,000 dogs from the facility and place them with no-kill shelter partners.
This week, Envigo RMS and Envigo Global Services pled guilty in federal court to conspiring to knowingly violate the Animal Welfare Act and the Clean Water Act. The entities’ parent company must pay more than $22 million in fines and costs, representing the largest-ever fine imposed in an Animal Welfare Act case.
Max was one of 35 beagles who came to the Fredericksburg SPCA in May of 2022. The Cavaliers had signed up to be a foster family and received a call asking them to take in a beagle.
“He was 10 or 12 pounds underweight, and he had body condition of 2-4 out of 10,” Cavalier said. “They didn’t feed them [at the facility]. He was very nervous—any kind of noise made him startle.”
The Cavaliers already had resident dogs and weren’t intending to adopt another one. But when they saw how quickly Max took to their resident dogs and they to him, they knew he was meant to be part of their family.
“In like two days, we had decided we were going to foster-fail and keep him,” Cavalier said.
The plea deal reached on Monday bars Envigo and its parent company from breeding or selling dogs in the future.
Cavalier said she’s glad the company is being held accountable for the mistreatment of Max and thousands of other dogs.
“I like that they’re not going to be permitted to keep breeding dogs and selling them for research,” she said. “I would like to see that happen everywhere.”
She said Max still startles easily and is shy around new people, but that he warms up quickly. She credits his first foster family with helping him get a good start when he first came out of the Envigo facility, as well as the Fredericksburg SPCA for taking in some of the beagles and the Humane Society for orchestrating the rescue of thousands of dogs—the largest rescue in the organization’s history.
According to Washingtonian Magazine, 121 shelters across 29 states took in the rescued beagles. Fairfax County’s Homeward Trails Animal Rescue took in 618 dogs, 488 of which were sent to partner organizations and 130 of which were adopted out.
The Envigo beagles found homes with families all over the U.S. One lucky dog, Momma Mia, was adopted by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Cavalier said there is a Facebook group dedicated to Envigo beagles who were adopted through the Fredericksburg SPCA.
In addition to the $22 million in fines, Envigo’s parent company must pay $13.5 million to upgrade its facilities and support animal welfare and environmental projects.
