By XMN News Investigative Desk
DETROIT, MICHIGAN — Shri Thanedar, a Democratic congressman from Michigan who has positioned himself as a leading voice against Donald Trump and is now campaigning for governor, is facing renewed scrutiny over his past involvement in a pharmaceutical testing company that was accused of leaving more than 100 beagles to die inside an abandoned laboratory.
The dogs were found locked in cages months after the closure of AniClin Preclinical Services, a New Jersey-based animal testing lab owned by Azopharma, a company controlled by Thanedar at the time. The business went bankrupt in 2010. When it shuttered, 118 beagles were reportedly left behind, without food or water, in a facility that had ceased operations without proper shutdown procedures for the animals it held captive.
According to a 2010 report by HuffPost, local animal advocates discovered the dogs after receiving tips from former employees. Several ex-workers later told USA Today they had been jumping fences at the defunct facility to care for the animals, delivering food and water to keep them alive as authorities failed to intervene quickly.
Even before the abandonment, those who later visited the site described harrowing conditions. “We believe that they have never been outside, ever,” one woman told the Times Herald-Record. “I don’t think they’ve actually had their paws on the grass. When I walked in here, it looked like they were walking on eggshells.”
The beagles, bred for laboratory use, had reportedly been subjected to toxicology testing, a standard but controversial practice in the pharmaceutical industry. What distinguishes this case is the complete abandonment of the animals once the facility’s finances collapsed, and the seeming lack of accountability from the company’s leadership.
Eventually, rescue organizations stepped in and were able to remove the dogs, rehabilitate them, and place them with adoptive families. No charges were filed in connection with the incident, and Thanedar has largely avoided public scrutiny over his role in the company’s operations at the time.
Now, as he gains traction in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Michigan, questions are resurfacing about his business record, ethics, and oversight of a company under his ownership that ended in what some animal welfare advocates describe as corporate negligence.
Thanedar, who has positioned himself as a progressive lawmaker, has not addressed the 2010 incident during his current campaign.
XMN News reached out to Thanedar’s congressional office for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
