(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Trump-led National Institutes of Health has shut down a controversial experiment that involved the systematic slaughtering of beagles. 

The experiment, formerly run in-house by the NIH’s Clinical Center in Maryland, involved injecting pneumonia-causing bacteria directly into the lungs of 2,000 beagles. 

In a Saturday interview on Fox and Friends Weekend, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said animals would be replaced by more advanced tools in future research. 

🚨 HUGE: RFK Jr. & Dr. Jay Bhattacharya just ENDED cruel animal testing at the NIH.

Fauci-era torture of innocent puppies stops TODAY.

“We got rid of all the the the beagle experiments on the NIH campus!”

“We’ve put forward a policy to replace animals in research with other… pic.twitter.com/WPnMPbdtn1

— Lauren Lee (@sheislaurenlee) May 5, 2025

“We put forward a policy to replace animals and research with other technological advancements, AI and other tools that actually translate better to human health,” said Bhattacharya, just a month after being confirmed by the Senate. 

“We got rid of all of the beagle experiments on NIH campus,” he added. 

Bhattacharya suggested the beagle experiments, along with other controversial practices, helped fuel public distrust in the agency. 

“The NIH, during pandemic, leaned in to lockdowns, schools closures [and] all these things. So, I think there’s a level of distrust that people have for the NIH that I’m hoping under President Donald Trump, we can reverse,” he said. 

According to watchdog White Coat Waste Project, federal researchers placed tubes into the dogs’ lungs to inject deadly pneumonia-causing bacteria. The goal was to study septic shock and organ failure in the animals. 

Four days later, the dogs that survived were euthanized and thrown into refrigerators, leading to the deaths of 2,133 puppies. Each beagle reportedly cost taxpayers between $1,000 and $1,500 from a puppy mill in Cumberland, Virginia, according to the New York Post. 

“As the watchdog that first uncovered and battled Dr. Fauci’s beagle tests (the biggest animal testing scandal in history), we’re proud that White Coat Waste has closed the NIH’s last in-house beagle laboratory following a hard-fought nine-year-long campaign,” WCW founder and President Anthony Bellotti told the Post.