Ten of the 32 beagles that were recently rescued from a Michigan laboratory are already settling into their new homes, while the rest are awaiting adoption.

A state lawmaker is hoping to give other lab animals a similar shot at a better life.

Rep. Kevin Hertel, D-St. Clair Shores, is planning to introduce a bill Wednesday that would require facilities that perform experiments on dogs and cats to eventually make the animals available for adoption.

Most animals used in research end up being euthanized once the testing period is over so their tissue can be examined.

Under the proposal, facilities would have to give dogs and cats that are no longer needed for research to Michigan-based animal shelters that would adopt them out. There would be an exception for animals that have to be euthanized for health or safety reasons.

"We have to do much better as a state with how we're regulating testing on animals. I look forward to having that conversation," Hertel said. "This is a step in the right direction to make sure these animals are going to loving homes."

Hertel's proposal also would require facilities to submit annual reports about their animal testing to the state Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Currently, they report to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but not to the state.

Animal testing in Michigan

More than 30 facilities in Michigan use animals for research, testing, experiments or teaching.

Of those, nine — the University of Michigan, Henry Ford Hospital, Wayne State University, Michigan State University, Eastern Michigan University, Macomb Community College, Northern Biomedical Research, Inc., MPI Research, Inc. (which Charles River Laboratories acquired in 2018) and Cheri Hill Kennel and Supply, Inc. — have dogs and/or cats, according to federal data.

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Concerns around animal testing have been in the spotlight locally since March, when the Humane Society of the United States released the results of a 2018 undercover investigation at Charles River Laboratories in Mattawan, outside Kalamazoo. The Humane Society said the lab force-fed beagles fungicides on behalf of Corteva Agriscience, a division of DowDuPont.

The beagles' plight sparked sympathy and outrage from animal lovers. Within a week, Corteva Agriscience announced that it was ending the testing.

The lab turned over 32 beagles to the Michigan Humane Society. More than 800 people applied to adopt them. Ten have already found new homes, and the agency is working to place the rest.

The beagles were far from alone in the lab in Mattawan. In fiscal year 2018, the facility had 2,033 dogs, all of which were subject to "experiments, teaching, research, surgery, or tests" that involved "accompanying pain or distress to the animals and for which appropriate anesthetic, analgesic, or tranquilizing drugs were used," according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report.

Pigs, primates, sheep and more

The lab also had 12 cats, 174 guinea pigs, 1,419 rabbits, 2,528 nonhuman primates (229 of which had not yet been used for research), 68 sheep, 759 pigs, 37 chinchillas and 18 ferrets.

Sam Jorgensen, public relations and social media manager for Charles River, declined to comment on the proposed legislation but said the company is committed to animal welfare.

"The survival rates for major diseases are at an all-time high thanks to the discovery of new drugs," Jorgensen said in an email. "Our work is an essential component of the research that has led to these discoveries and is required by the FDA. Charles River has played a vital role in virtually every medical advance for humans as well as animals."

Jorgensen also said the company is "firmly committed to the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) to help limit the number of animals used in research."

Cindy Buckmaster, chair of Americans for Medical Progress, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., that supports the use of animals in research, said the research community has long supported placing animals up for adoption.

However, she said it's important that animals who have spent their lives in highly regulated environments are placed in foster networks that understand how to prepare them to live in a residential setting.

Nine other states already have laws that provide a path for laboratory animals to be adopted.

Molly Tamulevich, Michigan state director for the Humane Society of the United States, praised Hertel's proposal.

"We're very happy about it," she said. "I think this would be a game-changing piece of legislation for animals in laboratories that currently don’t have a codified path to adoption. This would be a means for them to create a path for them to find homes after their time in a lab is finished."

Contact Ann Zaniewski: 313-222-6594 or azaniewski@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AnnZaniewski.