Not many things tug at our heartstrings more than man’s best friend.
But sometimes, man doesn’t uphold his end of the friendship bargain. Sometimes, he even chooses to inflict pain.
You’ve heard of campaigns against animal testing and experimentation. Maybe you’ve even advocated against these practices at some point — but you’ll be stunned to learn you’ve been bankrolling cruel animal experiments all along.
You’d think Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top medical scientist, would share ethical concerns about taxpayer-funded animal cruelty.
But that’s clearly not the case.
According to The Federalist, Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases sent part of a $375,800 grant to a lab in Tunisia so scientists could perform “cruel experiments on beagles.”
The nonpartisan watchdog group the White Coat Waste Project released a shocking report detailing the mistreatment of the beagles abused in the “study,” according to the outlet.
Experimenters drugged the dogs and “[locked] their heads in mesh cages filled with hundreds of infected sand flies.”
They starved the flies beforehand to make them hungry and isolated the beagles in the cages for nine consecutive nights, “using them as bait to attract infectious sand flies.”
In the WCWP’s words, the dogs were “eaten alive.”
To an animal lover (and rational person) like myself, “unbelievable” does not even begin to describe this abuse.
It’s heartbreaking, unethical and sickening.
And to make matters worse, this is being funded with your tax dollars, without your consent.
The experiments in Tunisia aren’t the only beagle “research” the NIAID has funded.
The agency also spent a whopping $424,455 to fund experiments at the University of Georgia that infected beagles with parasite-carrying flies.
Fauci’s @NIAIDNews forced you to pay $375K to have #beagles eaten alive by flies in a foreign lab ??#Beaglegate
Do you think Fauci should be held accountable for this animal abuse?RT if you oppose this sickening spending?? https://t.co/JmAKsXefzV pic.twitter.com/UCUEvOdVgV
— White Coat Waste Project??️ (@WhiteCoatWaste) September 2, 2021
The dogs reportedly “vocalized in pain” during the experiments.
Sadly, they were scheduled to be euthanized in June.
Who could do something like this to innocent dogs? Who could allow this to happen? Anthony Fauci, America’s health and wellness czar, apparently.
Better yet, who has the authority to put an end to it?
According to the Post Millennial, 14 Republican representatives wrote a letter in July to National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins — who oversees the NIAID — demanding to know why the agency had been using taxpayer funds for such “research.”
13 of my @HouseGOP colleagues and I are demanding answers from the @NIH on the agency’s use of taxpayer dollars for foreign animal research, especially if those dollars are funding projects that put our nation’s national security and health at risk.
Full letter?⤵️ pic.twitter.com/lz03u1QgNM
— Congressman Fred Keller (@RepFredKeller) July 26, 2021
The letter reiterated a claim we famously heard during a heated exchange between Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Fauci in July — that the NIAID had funded “gain of function” research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the lab where many people speculate the coronavirus originated.
Americans deserve to know where their money is going. They deserve the chance to say “no” and demand an end to this despicable experimentation.
I, for one, am determined to defend the defenseless — animal or human — and I hope others are committed to doing the same.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
