The Ontario hospital where dogs were used in heart attack studies for decades before the program was shut down last month has now committed to rehoming the animals.
St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ont., announced Wednesday that eight dogs that remained in its facility will be placed up for adoption by a “trusted and fully accredited organization” that it does not name.
The hospital, which hosted a secret testing program that included inducing heart attacks in dogs for up to three hours, pulled the plug on the practice days after an Investigative Journalism Bureau investigation was published Aug. 7.
Six of the dogs were transferred to the unnamed organization Wednesday. The remaining two will be transferred to their new home shortly, the statement reads.
The hospital is keeping secret the name of the agency receiving the animals “to protect the wellbeing of the dogs and to increase the willingness of people to adopt them,” the statement reads.
“They will stay together for the time being – receiving ongoing care, socialization, enrichment and training to ensure they’re ready for family homes. The partner organization has experience with this breed of dog and with animals coming from a research program and they have an adoption rate that is higher than 90 per cent.”
The IJB cannot verify the adoption rate of the anonymous rehoming organization.
Days after the IJB investigation was published last month, the Beagle Alliance, a national organization that rehomes dogs that have been subject to scientific testing, entered into discussions with Western University’s Animal Care Committee about helping to rehome the dogs, says Lori Cohen, founder and executive director.
“We haven’t heard anything since,” she says. “I’m thrilled for the dogs. We’re disappointed, given our experience and the resources we have to bring these dogs along and help them thrive, that we will not be given the opportunity.”
Cohen says her organization had foster homes ready to adopt the dogs in London and Toronto.
Western’s Animal Care Committee, which arranged for the transfer of the dogs this week, said in a statement Wednesday it is important that the dogs go to “an accredited organization with professional veterinary oversight” and experience finding homes for dogs that have been used in scientific experimentation.
“We believe they are best afforded this opportunity by relieving them of further public attention.”
The IJB investigation detailed the clandestine use of puppies as young as 10 months old at the hospital’s Lawson Research Institute dating back decades, including a recent study examining heart failure, where researchers induced heart attacks in the animals.
The testing was fully approved and federally funded.
Images and video obtained by reporters show dogs arriving at the hospital’s receiving doors and moving to the hospital’s sixth-floor research facility.
Two whistleblowers who worked in the facility said they were warned by their superiors not to speak about the work to anyone outside the lab and were told to blast music to hide the sounds of dog barking from patients and staff in the hospital.
The puppy test subjects were eventually euthanized and their hearts removed for further study. The whistleblowers told reporters that once the animals were dead, the carcasses were placed in garbage bags inside barrels for removal.
Days after the story was published, Premier Doug Ford said the practices were “inhumane” and called for an end to testing on dogs and cats in Ontario.
In a public statement at the time, St. Joseph’s announced it would “immediately cease research studies involving dogs” following consultation with the province.
“We acknowledge that this will have a significant impact on the ground-breaking research that has resulted in major strides in cardiac care and treatment, and on the dedicated teams involved in this work,” the statement reads, adding “the government of Ontario is an important partner in every aspect of our work.”
A week after the investigation was published, the hospital announced the departure of the head of the Lawson Research Institute, Dr. Lisa Porter, along with plans for a third-party review of the program.
On Aug. 25, Premier Ford again promised forthcoming legislation to formally restrict the use of dogs and cats in scientific testing which he called “cruel” and “unacceptable.”
“You aren’t going to use pets — dogs or cats — to experiment on any longer.”
While animal rights supporters expressed relief Wednesday upon learning the dogs were being rehomed, they question the ongoing secrecy around the process.
“I don’t know why they’re still being so secretive,” said one of the whistleblowers Wednesday.
Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice, said “the public deserves to know the dogs’ condition, who is caring for them, and the truth about what they endured. This deliberate lack of transparency shows exactly why we need stronger laws to end the worst experiments and stop cruelty from being concealed behind closed doors.”
Charu Chandrasekera, founder of the Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods, said the hospital’s decision to rehome the dogs was not voluntary.
“It came only after whistleblowers, a national front-page exposé, and public and political outrage forced transparency and accountability. Without that, these dogs would not have been given a second chance—and these scientifically and ethically questionable experiments would have continued for decades more.”
Angela Fernandez, incoming director of the Animal Law Program at the University of Toronto’s Henry N. R. Jackman Faculty of Law, called the rehoming a “terrific outcome for the dogs” triggered by “diligent investigative reporting” and “brave whistleblowers.”
“It is not just these eight dogs who will be saved and have a chance for a normal life but there will be no other dogs who will be forced to undergo what they went through at this lab in the future.”
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