It’s very hard for most of us to think about what animals go through when they’re born and bred for laboratory research.
Of course, so many of the things we use are tested for safety first on animals. And while it may blow our minds to think about going to work every day to perform painful tests on animals we think of as beloved pets, not many of us would sign up to be “guinea pigs,” so to speak.
It’s a cruel fact of life that sometimes animal testing is the only way to ensure safe and effective medicines and other treatments and it’s a near guarantee that we’ve all benefitted from something that was first tested on animals.
That still doesn’t make it feel ok when you see a dog like Echo.
Rescued from the lab
Terrified to come out of the crate she spent her time in, Echo was the subject of a particularly heartbreaking story from The Dodo – but one that mercifully had a happy ending.
After spending 6 years in a laboratory in China (though make no mistake, these labs exist in the U.S. as well), Echo and 24 of her fellow beagle test subjects were brought to America to be cared for by a rescue organization and adopted.
Even in America, animal activists are having trouble getting laws passed that ask testing agencies to hand over animals for adoptions rather than euthanizing them after experiments have ended. But it’s clear that many of these animals can become loving pets.
Echo needed a little extra intervention before she could find a home though. After all, she has no reason to trust humans or expect affection from them.
So while the rest of the dogs were running around and enjoying their first-time freedom, Echo held back.
The Beagle Freedom Project knows what to do in these situations though and they’ve dealt with plenty of dogs like her before. Many of these pups have never been able to run around – in fact, they’ve never even been outdoors or felt grass.
On her first walk, Echo avoided the grass.
And since getting attached to animals would make a researcher’s job that much harder, many dogs have never even been pet.
Saving Echo
Echo was in a lab where a product was being tested on dogs’ eyes to ensure it didn’t produce any allergic reactions. But as a result, Echo went blind.
When a woman named Hannah showed up hoping to foster one of the dogs, she met Echo, who immediately fell asleep in her arms.
And that was it – Echo had a foster home.
Fitting in
Hannah’s dog Gigi wasn’t exactly pleased at first, but the first time she lunged towards the newcomer she stopped dead in her tracks, realizing that this was no regular dog.
It didn’t take long for the two to become friends, even if Gigi still doesn’t like sharing the bed.
In fact, two days after her homecoming, Hannah saw Echo wag her tail for the first time.
A new life
Echo ended up having to have an eye removed because she was in so much pain, but the surgery seemed to make her feel mjch better and she came out of her shell even more.
All that was left was to find the perfect forever home for her.
When Hannah was contacted by a couple named Jenna and Jay it didn’t take long for her to realize they would be the perfect family to adopt the sweet beagle.
Hannah called the day she went home with them “the first day of the rest of her life.”
Now, Echo is happily at home with canine siblings Mia and Mango, a cat named Crystal, and even a human baby brother.
And if you needed any more proof that Echo is in a good place, the day after she got home was the very first day she decided to walk on grass, mimicking her new pack.
She’s now described as incredibly goofy and sweet. And she doesn’t let her past get in the way of the rest of her life.
Be sure to scroll down below to see her whole story.
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