BENGALURU: Forty two Beagles saw the world outside their cages for the first time on Monday, under the supervision of Compassion Unlimited Plus Action’s volunteers.

Since 2012, the city has seen a steady stream of Beagles released from the laboratory of a pharmaceutical company. After People For Animals had urged the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) to make a rule against experimentation on dogs in laboratories, the city-based lab volunteered to release the Beagles.

The lab has signed off 156 Beagles for release this year. “This makes it the largest dog release operation in the world,” said Sandhya Madappa, trustee at CUPA. But CUPA has decided to release them in batches – like the 42 released on Monday. The Beagles are between the ages of two to five years.

CUPA has shortlisted the prospective pet parents, after an online announcement three weeks ago. “We have received 525 responses so far. Counseling will be provided to help them understand that the dogs need extra care,” said Sandhya.

The rescued Beagles have been put up in Hotel for Dogs. They will be kept here until Saturday to allow them to socialise and be groomed. It will also give the volunteers a sense of dogs’ personalities to help with their adoption.

“Scientifically it has been proven that dogs do not render any extra credible information than rats. Hence, dog study is futile. For both ethical and financial reasons we have presented an agenda to ban testing on dogs,” said Dr Shiranee Periera, a member of the CPSCEA.

Ashok Chintala, a lab-rescued Beagle’s parent, lost one of the two Beagles adopted due to heart stroke. She said, “My dog who was adopted from the 2013 release suffered from kidney infections due to the cosmetics’ testing. This has got to stop,” he said.

“Though laboratory testing on dogs has been banned for cosmetic and household experiments, pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies continue do it,” said Chinthana Gopinath, a CUPA volunteer handling the rescue and adoption.