The Green Hill facility in Italy, which is owned by US-based Marshall BioResources, breeds beagles for drug research, and is one of the largest research dog suppliers in Europe. It was temporarily closed by an Italian Court last month (July 18) after two animal rights groups alleged maltreatment of the 2,500 beagles in the facility.
Andy Smith, a vice president for Marshall BioResources, which operates several research animal breeding facilities around the world, said Green Hill has been regularly inspected by the Italian authorities without issue, and sees the attention from animal rights groups as a calculated campaign. "In the last year, the rate of inspections [has] been stepped up to almost weekly,” he told Nature. “It seems to be a political campaign to get us closed down.”
Materials were seized from the facility for analysis, and the beagles were put in the care of the animal rights groups, many ...
