The Radioactive Dogs

The world's biggest kennel of inbred beagles is "Beagleville," on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. It has another distinction: most of its 450 beagles are radioactive. Their job under an Atomic Energy Commission contract is to determine the "burden" of radioactivity that a beagle (or human) body can carry for a lifetime without damage. The dogs are injected with graduated amounts of plutonium, radium, radiothorium or mesothorium. These elements accumulate in the bones and bombard tender cells with damaging alpha particles.

The injected dogs are watched with eagle-eyed care. Their urine and feces are examined with sensitive instruments to determine how fast the radioactive matter is being excreted. Sometimes the cages are airtight, so that the dogs' radioactive breath can be measured too. Radioactive wastes are enclosed in concrete and buried far out on a Utah desert.

The dogs are tenderly bathed once a day in little bathtubs. Then they are dried in an automatic drier that looks like a washing machine. Their blood counts are taken daily, and any signs of distress are noted. If they get radiation sickness, however, no attempt is made to cure them.

Only four of the dogs have died of radiation since Beagleville was founded in 1950. Since the doses are intended to simulate safe or nearly safe exposures, most of the dogs do not get seriously ill. Their blood count is affected at first, but it often recovers. Most survive in reasonably good health--as the doctors hope they will. So far, radioactive dogs have not been used for breeding.

To date, Beagleville has not been attacked by anti-vivisectionists. One reason may be that most of the beagles are healthy and happy. They get good food from a well-equipped dog kitchen, enjoy clean exercise runs heated by steam pipes. A veterinarian and six assistants treat the dogs with antibiotics whenever infection threatens. By the time the man with the needle comes round to give them their radioactive injection, they have much that is pleasant to remember. Says Dr. John Z. Bowers, head of Beagleville: "These pups grow to adulthood under conditions far better than most beagles enjoy. And who can tell how many human lives are saved every time one of them dies?"

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