Colorado woman advocates for animal testing reform after rescuing four test dogs

In April, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 85 into law, which requires health-related research facilities to put test dogs and cats up for adoption before euthanizing them when they're done with their work.
Colorado has several animal testing sites, including university research, government labs and commercial testing. It's common practice to often euthanize the animals when the tests are done with, according to Humane World for Animals.
According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released earlier this month, an animal testing facility in Fort Collins, that operates under the name High Quality Research, was cited for 22 federal animal welfare violations. That included delayed veterinarian treatment and contaminated food that contained large amounts of fecal matter.
While not all testing facilities are the same, one Colorado woman argues that our technological advancements are comprehensive enough to do away with human and animal testing and cites her personal experiences as to why.
When Lisa Ochsner sets out for her daily walk with four beagles, there's never a dull moment.
"It's pretty comical," said Ochsner. "They love their walks. Some would probably be frustrated that they're pulling, but to me, it's just like 'You can do whatever you want.'"
It's safe to say the pups live a pretty good life in Colorado. You'd never know the abuse they endured at an out-of-state animal testing facility. That they don't know how to play with toys, and for a long time, were afraid of the treats they now love.
"Treats are a good thing. Treats are happy. But to them, treats were used in such a way to, like, coax them to then be mistreated."
Ochsner jumped at the opportunity to adopt the survivors through the Beagle Freedom Project, which according to their website, is "the world's leading organization for rescuing and rehoming animals used in experimental research."
"With the beagles that we rescued; they were completely emaciated. You can see every single part of their bones. Two of the beagles that we have, they couldn't walk because they were so weak. They took weeks and weeks of time to get the smell of feces and urine off of them. It was clear that they were not handled in a kind manner, and you couldn't even move right or left without them flinching because they were scared of just movement of humans. To me, that is an indication of abuse."
With a background in clinical research, Ochsner is aware of the inhumane conditions these animals are often subject to, often in the name of cost-cutting.
"My background has always been in research. That's what I've done since I graduated college."
When asked if people would be shocked how prevalent animal testing is, she answered with a resounding "yes."
"Anything that you see in your kitchen could be something that has been tested on an animal, to the really critical drugs that people use for cancer, for Alzheimer's research. Cosmetics, things that we put on our skin, things that we put in our hair, in the food that's eaten."
Ochsner is not only advocating for higher standards but also argues companies should be moving away from human and animal testing and leaning into the use of artificial intelligence instead.
"AI sometimes gets a bad rap. But if you think of the positive things that it can do in terms of data mining and looking at retrospective data to see, you know, what has been safe with what we already know, and being able to apply that information forward, so that way, we don't have to run new tests over and over again, on things like animals and even humans."
She realizes change won't be made overnight, but for her, each small step in that direction, is a meaningful one.
"This is not something that we can just stop here at this point, I think there's so much more that can be done. I love that they're requiring the adoption. Anybody that has any reservations about adopting dogs? Try it. It's life changing. It is so purposeful to be able to give another opportunity and a second chance, which I think everybody deserves, animal or human."

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