BULLETIN BOARD: Letter to Anthony Fauci Re: Animal Abuse
October 26, 2021
Sent via email to: anthony.fauci@nih.gov
Dear Dr. Anthony Fauci,
My name is Shannon Keith and I am the President and founder of Beagle Freedom Project, a
nonprofit 501(c)(3) animal advocacy and rescue organization based in the United States, whose
mission is to end the use of animals in research and rescue, rehabilitate and place the survivors in
loving homes, giving them a second chance at life.
I have been inside of animal research laboratories and heard the painful screams of dogs who
languish in pain and the silent sounds of those who have no voice because their vocal cords have
been cut. I was told by one technician that they do this so that the screaming does not disturb the
laboratory workers while they perform their experiments. They told me that they also do this so
that the beagles cannot communicate with one another.
We have rescued beagles who are so weak from years in a cage that they could not even stand.
The beagles are treated as objects, they are given painful tattoos and only known by that very
number tattooed in their ear, Federal ID # X. A number you make sure they have so that they
have no identity, no name, so that nobody in the outside world knows they exist.
But you already know all of this….
We are calling on the YOU and your organization, the National Institute of Health to
immediately STOP funding any research that uses animals.
As I am sure you are aware, your very own agency published this very informative article by
respected M.D., M.P.H., Aysha Akhtar about The Flaws and Human Harms of Animal
Experimentation. Camb Q Healthc Ethics. 2015 Oct; 24(4): 407–419. In short, it states:
“….animal experimentation often significantly harms humans through misleading safety studies,
potential abandonment of effective therapeutics, and direction of resources away from more
effective testing methods. The resulting evidence suggests that the collective harms and costs to
humans from animal experimentation outweigh potential benefits and that resources would be
better invested in developing human–based testing methods.”
The NIH is one of the largest funders of research that uses animals in preclinical trials, however,
51%–89% of preclinical research is faulty and it is estimated that $14 billion to $25 billion in
animal research is wasted. Herrman, K. (2019) Animal Experimentation: Working Towards a
Paradigm Change.
If science and wasteful taxpayer spending are not enough to convince you, perhaps legal changes
will. Earlier this month, the FDA Modernization Act, a bi–partisan bill, was introduced to end an
outdated FDA mandate that experimental drugs must be tested on animals before they are used
on humans in clinical trials.
Last but not least, animal testing is unethical. The horrendous, and often painful and distressing
pain, both physical and emotional, inflicted upon these innocent animals, who did not ask to be
subjected to experimentation, is an embarrassment and shameful.
My organization has rescued over 3,000 animals from animal testing laboratories since we
started in 2010, and I can tell you from personal observation that the psychological trauma is the
most overwhelming. Bearing witness to what you and your organization does to these animals is
nothing short of criminal. It is time to end it, and now the world is watching. If it does not end
immediately, Beagle Freedom Project will make sure it becomes criminal and those who
perpetrate it will be punished by law.
Dr. Fauci, the evidence is clear: animal testing is outdated, flawed, cruel, unethical and harmful
to both animals and humans. We demand that you cease the use of animals in research, end
funding to those using animals, and release those animals who are currently in laboratories to
Beagle Freedom Project, the leader of rehabilitating and rehoming animals used in research.
I look forward to hearing from you immediately.
My contact info: Shannon Keith, shannon@bfp.org
Yours In Freedom,
Shannon Keith, Esq.
President & Founder, Beagle Freedom Project