SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – Some rescued beagles are getting a new home in New Mexico. They are among thousands rescued by the Beagle Freedom Project (BFP) from testing facilities around the country. These beagles came from Oklahoma, but the BFP is the same organization that helped rescue four thousand from a facility in Virginia.

The dogs were greeted Thursday afternoon by their new owners. Lynn Hopkins came to the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society for a very special purpose: “I came to get a beagle! One of the lab beagles.” After hearing about the rescue of around 4,000 beagles from a testing facility in Virginia, Lynn knew what she had to do: “One night I was watching the ten o clock news; there was a story, and I thought, I want one of those.”

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Thursday afternoon, BFP rolled into Santa Fe with some animals rescued from another testing facility. “This is a laboratory in Oklahoma that tests flea and tick medication on dogs. So they have lived their entire lives in a laboratory setting,” says Wendy Wood, director of operations for the BFP. “We don’t want them to be put down just because they’ve been a part of animal testing. We want them to now live their life as a dog,” Wood says.

These pups traveled across state lines—hundreds of miles, to find their forever homes in Santa Fe. The BFP took in 34 dogs and seven cats from this facility. Four are being rescued in Santa Fe, five are headed to Flagstaff, and the rest are on their way to Los Angeles.

“It’s everything we can wish for right? Like all we want is for them to live their best dog life,” Wood says. The BFP has rescued animals from facilities in 36 states and eight countries. The non-profit says they have rescued anything from rats to horses.