Suppliers of Suffering: The Breeders Selling Lives to Labs
Behind every dog in a laboratory cage, every monkey strapped into a restraint chair, and every pig raised for organ harvesting, there’s a supplier. A breeder. A business.
And business is booming.
These companies don’t just supply animals — they supply narratives. Some lean into faith and feel-good mission statements. Others bury the reality in corporate lingo. But all of them profit from a system that treats sentient beings as mere products.
Below, meet some of the suppliers of animals to the research industry.
Oak Hill Genetics: Operating Under Divine Approval?
Oak Hill Genetics breeds “domestic swine,” “mongrel dogs,” sheep, and calves — all for use in biomedical research. But according to their website, their business operates in the name of God.
Their mission, they say, is to “raise happy healthy animals for biomedical research”. And their purpose? “To live and conduct business in a way that glorifies and pleases God.”
They say their facility is guided by principles like “humility,” “integrity,” and Proverbs 29:18: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” They even state:
We believe that God, the manufacturer of this world and of all things living, has instructed mankind to steward the animals he placed on earth. . .we know one day we must give an account to God of our life.
If guided by the Bible, we suggest Oak Hill not ignore Proverbs 12:10: “A righteous man has kind regard for the life of his animal, but even the compassion of the wicked is cruel.”
Oak Hill’s “commitment to animal care” — including an on-site veterinarian, “natural lighting”, and “music played to [the animals]” — paints a heavenly picture. But make no mistake: These animals’ lives end, unmentioned, in vivisection and testing.
Marshall BioResources: “Happy and Healthy” (and Filthy)
Marshall BioResources breeds a range of animals for labs, including the proprietary Marshall Beagle®, Marshall Ferret®, Marshall Cat®, and Gottingen Minipigs®.
Marshall says they’re “helping improve the lives of people and animals”, and that “raising happy and healthy animals has been [their] top priority.” Of course, we’re quite sure that the 66,000+ dogs, ferrets, cats, and pigs imprisoned inside this filthy facility beg to differ.
Marshall’s animal welfare positioning, once accessible online, is now password-protected from public view. It’s a telling move in an industry that’s increasingly sensitive to mounting scrutiny.
An archived version of the page offered vague reassurances: their animals were “respected,” they followed USDA rules, and their staff “loved animals.” But sometime last summer, the veil of secrecy dropped further and the page went dark — just as awareness of the “lab dog” crisis was growing, and the media began to expose more and more of the truth about dogs raised for research.
A coincidence? We think that’s unlikely. Marshall wants to continue operating and profiting under darkness. (But don’t worry. We won’t let them.)
Alpha Genesis, Ridglan Farms, Charles River, and Inotiv: The Industrialization of Life
Some breeders take a more corporate approach in their external messaging.
Alpha Genesis, one of the largest monkey breeders in the U.S., promises a “continuous supply” of nonhuman primates and boasts over 100 acres of holding and research space. The idea is clear: monkeys, in bulk, on demand, and yours to exploit, once you pay up.
Ridglan Farms, the notorious beagle supplier that’s currently under a judge-mandated investigation into animal cruelty, labels their animals “purpose-bred”. They go on to declare, “Customer Service is our #1 priority!” And, yes, we’re not surprised — photos, videos, and sworn testimony illustrate that the welfare of their animal prisoners is clearly not a priority of theirs.
Charles River calls their gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, rats, and mice “solutions”, “models”, and, even more plain, “products”, avoiding acknowledgment that what they’re actually selling is lives.
Inotiv markets itself as a pioneer in scientific advancement. Yet, behind the scenes, it profits from breeding and selling rodents, rabbits, and nonhuman primates for use in experiments. The company boasts of its “impeccable regulatory history,” a curious claim given that it still owes millions in penalties stemming from the largest-ever Animal Welfare Act fine in U.S. history — tied to its now-defunct dog-breeding subsidiary, Envigo, which was shut down in 2022.
Pretty Words, Ugly Truths
These companies thrive on a simple, grotesque exchange: life for profit. Their branding hides the brutality. Their language numbs the truth. But behind every breeder’s polished mission statement lie living beings who feel pain, fear, and the absence of freedom.
No matter how glossy the mission statement or how reassuring the Bible verse, the end result is the same: animals are being reduced to tools. We’re not fooled by the euphemisms:
- “Purpose-bred” means destined for suffering.
- “Model” means animal.
- And “product” means a life commodified.
At Rise, we believe a just world is one where animals are not bought and sold for experimentation. Exposing this industry’s double-speak is one step toward dismantling it.
We owe it to these animals to dig deeper, demand transparency, and fight for a future where no sentient life is born into suffering for the sake of science.
Together, we can make it a reality.
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