Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Most Heartrending YouTube Clip You May Ever See

Being a beagle fancier (and owner) these past 35-years, I was deeply moved at a YouTube clip I found posted by Montreal Simon.  If you don't know, these wonderful hounds are the favourite subjects for laboratory testing.  They're incredibly stoic and a lot of them pay dearly for that quality.

The clip Simon posted didn't make the ProgBlog cut and that's a shame.   It shows two beagles rescued from some laboratory who had spent their lives in crates and had never felt grass under their feet.   Just watching how they react as they're freed for the first time in their lives should pretty much make your day.

Sincere thanks to Montreal Simon for this one:

9 comments:

Beijing York said...

That was so bittersweet. I'm thrilled they were rescued and have homes. But I'm afraid to ask what "debarked" entails? I was hoping somehow they would find their voices.

The Mound of Sound said...

I suppose their vocal cords were surgically severed or removed. I guess that's just another way these hounds are mutilated.

Many years ago either 60 Minutes or the Fifth Estate did an item showing beagles being used for medical research. They showed one beagle whose foreleg was tightly bent and bound with tape to give it arthritis in order to test some arthritis medicine. It made the blood boil.

Dr.Dawg said...

I don't mind saying that I was in tears watching this. Thanks for passing it on.

The Mound of Sound said...

It's the utter look of fear as the crates are opened that so infuriates me. These wonderful hounds have been so abused that they're fearful of being removed from solitary confinement.

Now I am anything but impartial in this. Beagles are, to me, the finest, most caring, most infuriating of the canine species and, like all dedicated beaglers, I know that the same traits that make them so endearing to us also doom them to this rank abuse.

These fuckers have it all worked out. They know that Beagles can bear more abuse without turning on them than any other breed, hands down, so they turn on Beagles. They should thank their gods we don't take guns from rednecks and give them to beaglers.

I never much cared for Kim Bassinger until she herself rescued 70 lab Beagles.

I got my first hound while still in law school. "Shana the Wonder Beagle" almost overnight became the law school mascot. She even was added to the law school newspaper, "The Caveat", letterhead (although I have to admit I was editor). Even the profs were smitten. Yet it was only then that I came to learn of the research abuse of this breed.

We always need good people to adopt "pound hounds." Too many see the cute puppy featured on the Christmas or Mothers' Day cards and decide, hastily, they want one. In reality, many folks who want a dog aren't ready for a true hound. A hound isn't a terrier or a poodle or a spaniel. It's a hound and you have to be able to accommodate that in your own life because you can't turn it into something else to fit your life.

You'll probably never find a more truly affectionate dog but you'll never find another that's such a complete bugger either. They're both - you get one, you get the other. Maybe that's what makes them so special to Beagle fanciers.

But, if you think you could be happy with an animal like that, head to the SPCA and, chances are, you won't have to wait long to find your own hound. Trust me, it's worth it.

LMA said...

One of my favourite quotes of all time:

"We need a boundless ethics which will include the animals also".
Albert Schweitzer

Beijing York said...

I would love a beagle or a corgi but I live in too small an apartment space and share it with my kitty Fearless and a human :-)

Winnipeg is a horrible city for accommodating people with animals. It's rare to find a landlord that allows it. Even owning a condo can have restrictions against pets.

Anonymous said...

Poor dogs, people make me sick. Ethics should be legally required with any decision making that can affect anyone else, or any thing else. There are a lot of good people, but a lot of people give me a pretty negative outlook. I'm glad these dogs were freed.

Anonymous said...

Had a beautiful beagle for years..he was great and the kids on our street loved him...came knocking on the door to take him for a walk. Husband took him for hunting birds...never gave up sniffing...around and around he would go until he flushed one up. Sadest day for me when he had to leave our planet. He was a wonderful dog.

The Mound of Sound said...

One thing this video doesn't convey is that a lot of lab beagles never get released. Some die first but others are so badly damaged that they can't be rehabilitated and have to be put down. For them the only way out of the crate is in a bag heading to the dump.