In this eye-opening interview, journalist Melanie Kaplan takes us behind the closed doors of animal research facilities through the lens of her powerful book Lab Dog. After adopting Hammy, a beagle rescued from a laboratory, Kaplan embarked on a cross-country journey to investigate the secretive world of dog testing and breeding facilities. With remarkable compassion and journalistic integrity, she reveals the complex ethical questions surrounding animal experimentation while highlighting the growing movement toward alternative testing methods that don’t require animal suffering.

This episode explores:

• How beagles became the dog breed of choice for laboratory testing due to their size, temperament, and pre-existing breeding infrastructure
• The psychological impact on both the animals and researchers involved in animal testing, and how compartmentalization allows this system to continue
• Recent breakthroughs in shutting down major dog breeding facilities like Envigo and Ridglan, and what this means for the future of animal testing
• The promising development of non-animal testing methods including organ chips, AI modeling, and organoids that could eventually replace animal experimentation
• How state laws requiring or allowing lab animal adoption only save a tiny percentage of research animals, with approximately 94% still being killed

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Melanie D. G. Kaplan is a longtime independent journalist whose travel and science writing has appeared in the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and National Parks magazine. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School, a 2021–2022 MIT Knight Science Journalism fellow, and a third-generation Washington, DC, native. Kaplan has lived most of her life with hounds.

We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.

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