300-plus beagles get a second chance in South Fla. Now let’s stop abandoning pets | Opinion
At Big Dog Ranch Rescue, there was no shortage of dog puns this week: There’s beaglemania.” A staff member workshopped an idea for a “The Beagles” t-shirt — four beagles walking on a crosswalk, as the Beatles did on the cover of their seminal album “Abbey Road.”
It’s hard not to be moved by the 205 beagles currently housed at the facility in western Palm Beach County. At least 100 more are expected to arrive this week, Evan Nader, vice president of development at Big Dog Ranch Rescue, told me.
The beagles are part of a confidential agreement Big Dog Ranch Rescue and the Center for a Humane Economy, an animal welfare organization, negotiated to purchase 1,500 dogs from Ridglan Farms, a controversial Wisconsin facility that breeds beagles for biomedical research. The price of the purchase has not been disclosed.
These long-eared, droopy-eyed creatures probably don’t need a lot of marketing. About 1,700 adoption applications have already been submitted, Nader said. Before they can be adopted, the dogs still need to be neutered and receive veterinarian care.
Other organizations across the country are also pitching in. Saving Sage Animal Rescue in Sunrise will receive 20 of the so-called “Ridglan Beagles” and 15 of them already have foster homes, founder Gina Nicole Harke told me.
Last year, Ridglan Farms agreed to give up its state breeding license as of July as part of a deal to avoid prosecution on felony animal mistreatment charges, the Associated Press reported. The company has denied mistreating animals.
In March, activists broke into the facility and took 22 dogs, the New York Times reported. In April, they tried again and faced tear gas and rubber bullets. Several people were arrested.
It looks like this will be a story with a happy ending, and in times of so much turmoil and uncertainty — when events seem to happen at a frenetic pace — a little “beaglemania” is welcome.
I hope this encourages South Florida residents to consider adopting other pets currently sitting at government-run and nonprofit rescue facilities across the region. Big Dog Ranch Rescue, for example, houses around 800 dogs, Nader said. Many of them come from the Redland area in southern Miami-Dade County, which has the reputation for being a cruel dumping ground for unwanted dogs. Others pets come from county shelters, where they were scheduled for euthanasia, he said.
Nader and Harke said they have seen an increase of abandoned animals ending up at their shelters in recent years, largely because of the rising cost of housing and living in South Florida, as the Herald Editorial Board wrote last June. Harke also said pets have been surrendered as their owners were deported or decided to leave the country under President Donald Trump.
As families move in together and downsize to save money, rental restrictions on dog breeds at apartment complexes are also an issue. Then there are the people who got pets during the pandemic only to change their mind once they had to return to the office, according to Nader. This isn’t fair to the animals — or the local governments and charities now responsible for their care.
“I think it’s become a luxury owning a dog these days,” Nader told me, citing the rising cost of quality food and veterinarian care. This is important information to know before you apply to adopt a beagle or any pet.
A lack of responsible pet ownership is a big part of the problem local shelters are experiencing. The other is the over breeding of dogs for commercial purposes, whether by backyard breeders or larger “puppy mill” operations in other states.
The 1,500 beagles released from the Wisconsin facility will finally have the chance to become a family pet. But the greater issue — too many abandoned pets and not enough responsible owners— is one that South Florida must tackle with a collective effort.
Isadora Rangel is a member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board.
