MOUNT VERNON — When a gaggle of 50 or so protesters, some with dogs and all dressed in blue T-shirts, huddled and began chanting, Patty Tapp and her dog had to step out of the throng.
"She can't take loud noises," Tapp said, gesturing down to Bee, who was standing behind Tapp with her back turned to the group. "It gives her PTSD."
Bee, a 7-year-old beagle, grew up in the same type of conditions as the dogs the group was there to protest on behalf of.
The protest, called the "Wear Blue for Beagles Walk" and assembled by members of the Posey, Vanderburgh and Indiana humane societies, aimed to raise public awareness for beagle puppies being used in animal testing at Inotiv Inc. in Mount Vernon.
Protesters tried to speak to representatives from Inotiv, but police stopped them at the company's gate.
Inotiv could not be reached for comment.
Among the allegations in an undercover Humane Society of the United States report: More than 80 beagle puppies were used in toxicology testing that reportedly forced the dogs to ingest a drug via stomach tube every day for months.
According to Samantha Morton, the Indiana director for the national group, 32 of those beagles are set to be euthanized starting the week of May 16. Part of the protest involved Morton and other humane society members driving over to Inotiv's Mount Vernon lab to request they release the beagles.
Morton believes the dogs do not need to die.
"Fourteen states already have laws that require these animals to be adopted out (as opposed to killed)," Morton said. "Inotiv knows that other folks are required to do that, but it's not legally required (in Indiana), and it might just be more difficult for them."
Bee the beagle
Bee spent her puppy months in an animal-testing lab somewhere in Tennessee getting pumped full of drugs and chemicals. The dogs there either died or, in Bee's case, were rescued. Tapp received her from a beagle rescue society when the dog was 11 months old.
Previous:Humane Society calls for release of 80 beagles at animal testing facility at center of investigation
Bred to be smaller so as to better fit in a tight cage, Bee was much tinier than even the other beagles at the protest. She had no idea what a toy was when Tapp got her and wouldn't let anyone pet her for an entire month after being rescued.
Morton said the Humane Society is working on legislation in Indiana that would force labs like Inotiv to release their animals for adoption once the testing study is completed. Five U.S. states — Illinois, California, Nevada, Maryland and Virginia — have outright bans on animal cosmetic testing, though there are no state bans on testing pharmaceuticals on animals.
In a statement to the Lafayette Journal & Courier, the company, which has headquarters in West Lafayette, described the research at Inotiv Inc. as "legally required" in the U.S. for developing life-saving medical options.
Related:100K petitioners demand Inotiv release beagle pups
Morton hoped the group's effort to go over to the testing lab would spark at least a conversation with lab officials.
It didn't.
The protesters were met at the Inotiv lab's gate by a squad of Posey County Sheriff's cruisers and deputies who, according to the protesters, refused them access because the lab was on Inotiv-owned property.
When Morton tried to leave a set of 32 dog collars and leashes at the gate, meant as a symbol of the beagles' post-lab potential future, she was rebuffed and told the group would be cited for littering.
She said she spoke on the phone with an Inotiv official, who asked her to leave.
'We're gonna continue fighting'
Though they failed to speak with Inotiv and couldn't get the beagles released, Morton remained optimistic about the message the protest was trying to send.
"We were able to share with our supporters and followers the way that Inotiv perceives these animals," Morton said. "Us being there and trying to deliver these collars is just something they weren't really willing to accept. But we're gonna continue fighting until those cages are empty."
She brought Bee to the protest to show that a dog used in animal testing can find a loving home and be a loving pet.
"(Those dogs) have done everything humans have asked them to do," Tapp said. "They deserve to be loved."