Thousands of dogs destined for laboratories in the United States are being sent to Denmark to flood the European market

On 14 January 2022, 74 dogs were sent by the New York breeding farm Marshall BioResources (MBR) to the Charles River laboratories in Évreux in Normandy. Three weeks later, another flight sent 83 others to French, Italian, and Danish laboratories.

Dogs’ terror in transportation boxes is only the start of the hell that awaits them

This new footage revealed by Anima Denmark and filmed at Copenhagen Airport is probably the only trace that remains of the existence of these animals. Worried, tired, wading through their own excrement, they remain enclosed for hours or even days in transportation boxes fixed to pallets. In Copenhagen, between two planes, one coming from the United States and others whose marks indicate France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain... they are thrown around in the wind, the noise of the turbines, ready to be sent to a place where they will undergo an ordeal and die. Their barking is heartbreakingly eloquent.

And that is just a small sample of the numerous imports carried out by MBR in Europe. According to Camp Beagle (England) who obtained and analysed data from British and Danish authorities; over three years, almost 5000 dogs were sent in this way. Every time, it’s Scandinavian Airlines at Copenhagen Airport who are involved, with the passengers on the flight not suspecting a thing.

The breeding giant for labs: Marshall in Europe...

The Marshall company was established in France at the end of the 1990s (nowadays known under the Lyon-based company ironically named ‘Utopia’) to import dogs from the United States to Europe. More recently, the company has bought the Gannat and then the Mézilles breeding farms to “produce” its animals directly in France, which is undoubtedly more profitable. But apparently, this is still not enough.

In Italy, while the Green Hill Marshall breeding farm was closed and its directors were imprisoned for cruelty towards dogs in 2015-2016, it was the parent company who took over and from then on continued exporting. In Spain, the Vivotecnia laboratory continued to receive dogs throughout 2022, despite the damning investigation led by our partner Cruelty Free International.

It is high time that this is stopped

Today, the dogs that we see in this footage are certainly all dead, after being poisoned due to testing of toxic products (specifically pesticides) and the consequences of these tests.

With our international partners Anima (Denmark) and Camp Beagle (England) and alongside Doctors Against Animal Experiments (Germany), Cerremos Vivotecnia (Spain), Animal Rights (the Netherlands and Belgium), Daniel Rolke (Sweden), and Peta (USA), we are calling for an end to Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) transporting dogs to laboratories and for the Copenhagen Airport to commit against these kinds of imports. We are also asking that all MBR breeding farms in Europe be closed and, like three quarters of French people (IPSOS/One Voice survey, April 2023), for an end to testing on dogs.

To appeal to them, you can use the texts below on social media.

Twitter:

.@SAS @SAS_Complaints @CPHAirports, stop participating in the transportation of dogs to laboratories and to their deaths! #AnimalTesting #MBRGatewaytoHell #EndAnimalTesting #freethembrbeagle @TheCampBeagle_ @animadk https://one-voice.fr/fr/blog/d...

Facebook:

flysas and copenhagenairport, stop participating in the transportation of dogs to laboratories and to their deaths! #AnimalTesting #MBRGatewaytoHell #EndAnimalTesting #freethembrbeagle thecampbeagle animadk https://one-voice.fr/fr/blog/d...

Translated from the French by Joely Justice