Immediate Removal and Rehabilitation of Over 1200 Animals at Palamur Biosciences Recommended by Central Government-Appointed Inspection Committee, PETA India Demands Urgent Enforcement

PETA India can reveal a central government-appointed inspection committee has recommended ‘immediate regulatory action…including the removal and rehabilitation of animals in order to prevent further pain and suffering’ as well as a review of Palamur Biosciences’ registration and breeding license status through an explosive report following an extensive inspection that took place in the two days after PETA India released a whistleblower-led exposé, including internal video, of the Telangana-based major beagle breeder and contract laboratory that accepts contracts from foreign clients, earlier this month.

The findings and recommendations have been signed by Committee for Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA), Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC), industry and animal welfare representatives. PETA India urges the central government body CCSEA, which operates under the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, to take immediate action on this report by allowing all of the animals at Palamur Biosciences to be rescued and sent to loving homes and reputable sanctuaries and by rescinding the facility’s permission to breed and use animals.

The inspectors’ report shows that Palamur Biosciences uses dogs (beagles), pigs, sheep, cattle (including cows), monkeys, rats, mice and rabbits for experiments although initially denying some of those species were held at the facility. Among the laboratory failings and abuses described in the report, the inspectors found:

• Palamur Biosciences failed to be able to produce any inventory of the animals it houses. The inspectors counted over 1232 animals on the premises, a headcount revealing far more dogs than approved by CCSEA.
• ‘Surplus’ animals are haphazardly stuffed into repurposed rooms, adjacent to where experiments are taking place, but without health screens or attention to biosecurity.
• Across all species, animals are reused in painful experiments, often within weeks of being used for other studies—a violation of CCSEA guidelines. A dog in an experiment was permitted to suffer severe tremors and was finally killed. Cows are also experimented on and were found in poor body condition.
• 73 dogs are under so-called rehabilitation in a ‘make-shift arrangement’, facing the exact same bleak housing conditions as dogs used for breeding and experiments.
• Dogs are kept on hard, uncomfortable perforated floors without bedding or any enrichment, outdoor access or suitable exercise or playtime. Dogs in the breeding section were forced to languish in their own filth. An insufficient, small ‘play area’ with a hard floor seems to exist only in name.
• Other species were also relegated to barren cages. There are no outdoor enclosures, even for non-human primates.
• Dogs were observed in poor condition, such as suffering from cherry eye and were underweight, yet there were no appropriate medical records of any kind and no evidence of any treatments for sick animals. The general body condition of minipigs and cows was poor.
• An animal handler roughly handled a dog by the scruff in front of inspectors. The inspectors noted, ‘The casual manner in which this was done suggests that the rough handling is a routine and accepted practice…’ (other manhandling was shown on the whistleblowers’ video, including slamming the dogs’ legs in cage bars).
• Animals are moved around the facility without due disease checks and health screens.
• Minipigs are forced to stand on drainage, which can trap the feet of cloven-footed animals.
• White Yorkshire mixed breed pigs were not initially disclosed to the inspection team. Their use for heart-related experiments came to light through a staff member’s accidental admission.
• It was initially denied by the facility that any sheep were at the facility, but the inspectors found seven sheep there.
• Narrow metal platforms inside the monkey cages made it hard for them to sit or lie down comfortably.
• Twelve cows, all underweight, are kept without adequate protection from the elements and were standing in wet mud.
• Claims of animal care by Palamur Biosciences did not match the CCTV footage.
• Sedatives which are required for humane euthanasia, are not used before killing dogs and a lack of sufficient drugs of many kinds indicates severely inadequate euthanasia procedures.
• Dogs are only fed once a day.
• The inspectors noted, ‘There is a glaring absence of a proper record-keeping system’ at Palamur Biosciences including a failure to note the frequency of use of each animal in experiments. The inspectors note, ‘This fragmented and superficial record-keeping reflects a seriously negligent approach to both regulatory compliance and animal welfare standards.’
• The inspectors note, ‘There is a complete absence of dedicated quarantine facilities across all animal housing units,’ posing significant risk to animal health, biosecurity and disease containment.
• Primates are wild-caught and the current screening protocol does not check for Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) which is transmissible monkey to monkey and from monkeys to humans.
• The inspectors note, ‘An anxiety, fear and distress management protocol’ is not in place. Inspectors noted that two monkeys undergoing an experiment that involves an incision creating a wound, is done without any sedatives.
• The inspectors note, ‘No structured, on-site veterinary documents were available…’
• There were hardly any medicines available given the animal population, and no sedatives, analgesics or anaesthetics and no emergency or pain-management medicines.
• Only two veterinarians were present during the inspection, raising serious concerns about the availability veterinary care at the facility. There is no veterinary coverage during night hours and night staff are not in the animal quarters during them.
• The inspectors noted an inconsistency with approved protocols vs. the number of animals.
• Only curated CCTV footage was made available to inspectors, even after repeated requests.
• The inspectors note the overall approach to animal welfare and care at the facility ‘reflects a deeply troubling lack of commitment to the health and wellbeing of the animals in its custody’.

The inspectors’ report concludes, ‘The operational deficiencies observed at PBPL [Palamur Biosciences] are not isolated incidents but indicative of entrenched structural, procedural and ethical failures. The scale and severity of non-compliances documented during the inspection raise significant concerns regarding the facility’s adherence to established standards of animal welfare and regulatory accountability. The situation demands urgent attention—particularly with respect to the removal and rehabilitation of animals to prevent further pain, distress or suffering. The findings also call for a critical review of the facility’s registration and breeding license in view of the serious and repeated deviations from prescribed norms.’ So far, no action has been taken although animal welfare and rights groups are standing by to assist in rehoming and rehabilitation of the animals.

PETA India’s whistleblower-led exposé revealed beagles crammed into enclosures so overcrowded that they caused bloody wounds to each other, minipigs poisoned so roughly they bled, and wild-caught terrified monkeys being experimented on among other cruelties. Insider allegations included lack of painkillers, dogs becoming immobile and dying from procedures and manhandling of animals. Cruelties have been borne out by the inspectors’ report.

In a historic first, on 16 June 2025, a First Information Report was registered by Boothpur Police Station, Mahabubnagar, under Section 173(1) of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 against Palamur Biosciences for apparent violation of Sections 34, 269, 289, 337 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860. This is the first time a police charge has been filed against an animal experimentation laboratory in India.

On 26 June 2025, Dr Anjana Aggarwal, Scientist and Research Policy Advisor, PETA India said, ‘It has been almost 15 days since egregious cruelty to animals at Palamur was reported and over 10 since the government-appointed inspectors visited, yet the damning report has yet to be acted upon. PETA India calls for urgent rescue and rehabilitation of animals at Palamur Biosciences into loving homes and sanctuaries, and an end to their breeding and experiments on animals.’

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