Talarico calls Paxton 'anti-puppy' over dog testing despite praising Fauci, who approved animal experiments

The campaign of Texas’ Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico is seizing on resurfaced reports about Republican rival, Attorney General Ken Paxton, ruling over a decade ago that animal testing at a public university could remain confidential, even though a federal agency led by a man Talarico called a superhero has also funded controversial animal experiments.

“Unearthed documents just revealed Ken Paxton, as Attorney General, protected a research lab that tortured 400 puppies," the X account Team Talarico stated in a post Thursday.

The lab at Texas A&M University was the subject of 15 open records requests about the treatment of dogs tested there more than a decade ago.

As highlighted in a 2015 Houston Chronicle article, Texas A&M reported using 428 dogs and 15 cats for research in 2014. The university also told the U.S. Department of Agriculture that three-fourths of the tests done on 82 dogs in 2009 left the animals in “some pain or distress.”

Paxton’s office issued an opinion in June 2015, concluding that research developed at a state university must stay confidential if it has commercial value. The opinion covers “all information relating to a product, device, or process, the application or use of such a product, device, or process, and all technological and scientific information [...] developed in whole or in part at a state institution of higher education, regardless of whether patentable or capable of being registered under copyright or trademark laws, that have a potential for being sold, traded, or licensed for a fee.”

In a subsequent opinion responding to additional requests for information, Paxton’s office cited a state law stating that “A veterinarian may not violate the confidential relationship between the veterinarian and the veterinarian’s client.” Under that law, a veterinarian cannot be required to release information about an animal’s care without written permission from the client or “an appropriate court order or subpoena.” The opinion defines “client” as “the owner or other caretaker of the animal.”

The Team Talarico account noted that “Paxton was also one of the only Texas lawmakers to vote against a bill to hold animal abusers accountable.”

That bill, House Bill 963, requires owners of animals suspected of being abused to pay the costs of removing the animals, placing them in a shelter and determining whether cruelty occurred. The Texas House Journal shows Paxton was one of 15 House members to vote against the measure, which became law in 2011.

Talarico has used the resurfaced opinion and vote to cast Paxton as “anti-puppy.” In an appearance on MS NOW on Thursday, Talarico discussed an event he held with the Austin Humane Society after the San Antonio Current and other outlets revisited Paxton’s record.

“Ken Paxton is anti-puppy,” Talarico said. “I wish I was joking when I said that, but reports just came out revealing that as Attorney General, Ken Paxton protected a research lab that was notorious for torturing and killing hundreds of puppies. And then as a state lawmaker in the Texas legislature, Ken Paxton was one of the only votes against a bill to hold animal abusers accountable. So Ken Paxton never misses an opportunity to do the wrong thing and he won’t fight for the little guy — even when the little guy is literally a puppy.”

Talarico vowed that he was “going to be a senator for [...] all Texans, including our [...] four-legged Texans.” However, Talarico has also sung the praises of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), who has also faced criticism over animal research. Fauci retired in 2022.

In a 2021 X post, Talarico touted a Fauci doll he received as a Christmas gift. The doll is modeled after the agency leader, who rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, and shows him wearing a face mask.

“I got the coolest action figure for Christmas!” he wrote. “Thank you to all the health care superheroes working today. Let’s help by getting vaxed and boosted!”

Documents obtained by the White Coat Waste Project show NIAID awarded two grants totaling nearly $400,000 to Ohio State University and the Pasteur Institute of Tunisia. The grant application says “vertebrate animals” were euthanized as part of the research, which involved injecting beagles with a prototype vaccine for leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease spread by sand flies.

Researchers exposed the dogs to bites from wild sand flies carrying leishmaniasis. Half the dogs were vaccinated; half were not. The application said any euthanasia was “carried out using methods recommended by the Panel on Euthanasia of the American Veterinary Medical Association.”

The reports come as Paxton and Talarico are locked in a tight Senate race. The RealClearPolitics average of polls in the Texas Senate race shows Talarico leading Paxton by 1.7 percentage points.