Rescued dogs to be adopted on February 18

PUNE: Animal rescuers have received tremendous response to their call for adopting 21

Beagles

released from a pharmaceutical research laboratory last month. An

adoption

camp will be organised to give away the animals on February 18.

According to Neha Panchamiya from RESQ Charitable Trust, where the Beagles are currently being sheltered and rehabilitated, the trust has received over 300 applications for adoption.

“We’re following an exhaustive screening process to ensure that only eligible candidates receive the dogs. Following the process, we will organise an adoption camp for approved adopters to meet the dogs,” she said.

Explaining that the process is a legal adoption, Panchamiya said that the only fees to be charged from the candidates will be Rs 500 for the stamp paper duty and related charges of the adoption deed.

The adoption and screening process is being handled by the ‘Beagle Brigade’, which facilitated the adoption of 242 Beagles that were similarly rescued from Bangalore in 2016.

On January 27, 21 Beagles, aged between 6 and 8 years, were rescued from

Lupin Research Park

in Lavale, where they had been housed for laboratory testing. Volunteers from the Pune unit of People for Animals and RESQ had gone there after the intervention of union cabinet minister Maneka Gandhi under the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) guidelines.

Beagles are the most commonly used dogs in animal testing due to their smaller size and passive nature. Under CPCSEA guidelines, the animals have to be tested for illness and rehabilitated.