Five beautiful beagles who spent the last five years locked in stark metal cages finally know of a simple pleasure no dog should ever be denied.

 For the first time in their lives, these former test subjects are feeling the warmth of sunlight on their faces and grass beneath their paws in the company of people who cherish them.

These dogs are among a group rescued from a research facility in South Korea earlier this year under the direction of the Beagle Freedom Project and local animal charities. After being forced to endure a life of confinement and subjugation, the beagles had been slated to be euthanized before rescuers convinced their handlers to release them into retirement instead.

Despite the many years they'd spent devoid of comfort in the lab, valued only for what could be learned from their suffering, the timid beagles' spirits were not broken. Described as "all incredibly sweet," they slowly began to open up to feelings which up until then had been foreign to them, those of human love and affection.


It was a moving scene for the crowd of well-wishers, but for the dogs themselves it was only a first tentative step on the grassy road to a better life. As the Beagle Freedom Project reports, each of the former lab subjects are currently in foster homes being showered with love as they adjust to their bright future as family pets.