Blue Ridge Kennel, an Alabama-based contract laboratory that tests companion animal products on live dogs for the highest bidder, has just been fined $80,000 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and has racked up 83 citations for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act since 2020. Now PETA is calling for an investigation of the Wetumpka facility by District Attorney CJ Robinson and urging him to bring appropriate charges for apparent violations of Alabama’s laws to prevent cruelty to animals.

Photographs and video footage taken by federal inspectors and obtained by PETA (screenshots below) show emaciated dogs at the facility as well as dogs with dental disease, painful ear infections, and masses on their bodies, all of whom were denied adequate veterinary care. The kennel has also purchased dogs from people who weren’t licensed to sell them, which means they could have been someone’s animal companions or could have possibly been stolen.

“Dogs at Blue Ridge Kennel are plagued by untreated injuries and infections, are suffering from open wounds, and are just skin and bones,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA is urging law enforcement to prosecute those responsible and finally end this vicious neglect and mistreatment.”

Following concerns raised repeatedly by PETA, the USDA took the extremely rare action of filing a formal complaint against the facility in February 2023 and finally issued the $80,000 penalty in March. In the months between, Blue Ridge racked up additional violations in apparent flagrant disregard for the law.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

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