CA Fails To Shut Down Facilities Where Captive Dogs Give Blood: Report

CALIFORNIA — Three years after the Golden State vowed to shut down facilities that hold blood-donating dogs captive, such colonies are still operating, according to an investigation by the Los Angeles Times.

In 2021, state lawmakers declared closed blood colonies inhumane and promised to replace them with community blood banks instead. The blood is used by veterinarians to save other pets that would otherwise die from critical injuries or disease.

The phaseout of captive colonies was to begin when community blood banks consistently matched the output of the colonies — an effort that relied on pet owners to volunteer their animals to give blood. However, the Times found that the state's closed colonies continue to supply 97% of the canine blood sold in the state, leaving veterinarians forced to purchase blood from captive dogs.

There is currently no state regulatory limit on the number of years a healthy animal can be kept as a donor, the Times found. The only remaining company is Animal Blood Resources International, which sells blood drawn from animals about every three weeks for roughly $100 on up to $700 to veterinarians.

“I don’t want to see captive dogs,” Ken Pawlowski, clinical director of one of three community blood banks in California, told the Times. “However, it’s a necessary evil at this point.”

Read more from the Los Angeles Times: ‘A necessary evil’: The captive dogs whose blood saves lives