PCRM recently filed a complaint against the Mecosta County Animal Shelter in Big Rapids, Mich., to stop the shelter from selling dogs to laboratories, and local activists have worked hard to end the practice. In response, the county controller announced that the shelter plans to stop providing dogs for experiments.

Unfortunately, it is too late to save Charlie, a brown-and-white hound and Labrador mix. She was placed in a hypertension experiment, underwent multiple major surgeries, and endured forced treadmill exercise for months.

Hundreds of dogs have experienced unrelieved suffering and death in similar experiments. Queenie was a gentle and friendly Dalmatian. She had been a stray and was turned in to a Gratiot County, Mich., animal shelter. She was then transferred to a Class B dealer, who sold her to be used in heart experiments.

Unfortunately, Mecosta County’s decision does not end the experiments. R&R Research, the dealer supplying dogs, can still obtain dogs from the Gratiot County Animal Shelter in Ithaca, Mich., from private dealers, and from out-of-state sources. So it is important, not only to stop the supply of dogs into experiments; it is also essential that facilities wake up to the need to replace their experiments with other methods that do not require animals.