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Lawmaker Wants Texans to Be Able to Adopt Research Animals

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Tony Maples Photography

 

State Rep. Ina Minjarez (D-San Antonio) introduced a new bill to give research animals a second chance at life. According to the Star-Telegram, House Bill 2490 is “calling on research facilities to offer up for adoption any healthy retired cats or dogs they were otherwise planning on euthanizing.”

In 2015 alone, 1600 dogs and cats took part in medical testing and research. Sadly, they are usually euthanized and disposed of after their part in the study was complete without getting a chance to live on after the experiments.

Some might worry that the pets would have something wrong with them after the tests are complete, making them difficult to take care of or integrate into families. Minjarez’s bill addresses this as it reads, “This chapter applies only to a retired research animal that does not have a substantial medical condition that prevents the animal from successfully integrating into an adoptive home.”

When WFAA posted about the new bill on their Facebook page, readers resoundingly said they liked the idea of these animals moving on to a new, fun life after their time spent in a lab. ‪Kristi Tovar wrote‪, “Finally a law we can agree on.”