NEW REPORTING: Ken Paxton Covered Up Puppy Abuse For Hundreds Of Tortured Lab Animals

Aug 21

4 min read

MeidasTouch News: “Ken Paxton Helped Bury the Records on 400 Tortured Lab Animals.”

San Antonio Current: “100 dogs felt pain during testing [...] However, Paxton denied the rescue group’s requests for the documents”

AUSTIN, TX — This week, shocking new reporting unearthed how Ken Paxton helped bury the record for over 400 puppies being tortured in research labs, concealing evidence of the rampant alleged animal abuse from over 100 public records requests.

Paxton has a historically anti-puppy record as one of only 15 Republicans to vote against a bill that made animal abusers, instead of tax payers and shelters, pay for the cost of housing for the animals they had abused.

WATCH MORE HERE

August 19, 2026

By Aaron Parnas

Ken Paxton is no stranger to cover-ups. But one episode that’s gone largely unreported is the fact that Paxton’s own office actively helped conceal evidence of animal abuse, and fought to keep the public from ever seeing it.
In 2015, animal rescue groups from 23 states filed more than 100 public records requests trying to find out how more than 400 dogs were being treated inside Texas A&M University’s research labs. The push came after the university admitted, in disclosures to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that it had used 428 dogs and 15 cats for research, and that at least 100 of those dogs experienced pain during testing. Activists wanted the daily care logs for individual animals, some identified only by lab ID numbers, others by names like Buddy and Sadie Sue, according to reporting at the time from the San Antonio Express-News.
The demand for transparency wasn’t coming out of nowhere. A 2009 report from Animalearn, a division of the American Anti-Vivisection Society, had already found that Texas A&M engaged in “pound seizure,” obtaining live animals from municipal shelters for lab use. Records showed that between January 2005 and July 2008, the university acquired 474 live dogs from local shelters, primarily the Lehman Animal Shelter in Giddings, Texas, and euthanized them the same day they were acquired, according to the Houston Press. Between 2006 and 2008, the university also acquired 86 dead cats from the same shelter.
Instead of siding with transparency, Paxton’s office stepped in and ruled that the care logs could be kept hidden from the public entirely. The opinion cited veterinarian-client confidentiality, claiming “a veterinarian may not violate the confidential relationship between the veterinarian and the veterinarian’s client,” language that left open an obvious and unsettling question: was the “client” the university, or was it the dog?
The ruling effectively slammed the door on public accountability. Animal welfare organizations, including the Beagle Freedom Project, went on to sue Texas A&M over the withheld records, and the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas publicly criticized the fact that the Attorney General’s office had backed the university’s refusal to release the records.
We now have unreported photos and video of the abuse Paxton’s office fought to keep hidden. People should see exactly what his office worked so hard to conceal.
This wasn’t an isolated incident. In May 2011, as a member of the Texas House, Paxton was one of only 15 Republicans to vote against House Bill 963, a bill that made convicted animal abusers, not taxpayers or shelters, pay for the cost of housing and caring for the animals they’d abused while their cases were on appeal.
The bill was about as close to consensus legislation as it gets. It passed the Texas House 122 to 15, backed by testimony from the Houston Humane Society, the Houston SPCA, the Texas Humane Legislation Network, and the Humane Society of the United States, and it was signed into law by Governor Rick Perry, according to the official House record and the House Research Organization’s bill analysis.
The Texas Humane Legislation Network later credited the law with helping remove more than 20,000 animals from abusive conditions, saying “thousands more animals will be rescued by animal welfare organizations as a result of this law.” Paxton voted no.
Two episodes, a decade apart. In one, Paxton’s office used its legal authority to help bury records the public had every right to see, records concerning hundreds of animals in pain. In the other, Paxton cast one of just 15 votes in the entire Texas House against making abusers, rather than shelters and taxpayers, bear the cost of the harm they caused. Both times, Paxton had a clear choice between standing with animals and standing against them. Both times, he chose the latter, breaking with the overwhelming majority of his own party to do it.

San Antonio Current: Paxton’s denial of public records to animal rights groups comes back to bite

August 20, 2026

By Michael Karlis

Looks like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is back in the doghouse.
A decade-old news alleging he helped bury accusations of animal abuse at Texas A&M’s labs during his time in office has resurfaced as he ramps up his general election campaign to represent the state in the U.S. Senate.
In 2015, rescue groups from 23 states filed public records requests to find out how more than 400 dogs being used for research were treated at Texas A&M. Those public records requests came after the university admitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture that at least 100 dogs felt pain during testing, the Washington Times reported then.
However, Paxton denied the rescue group’s requests for the documents. In a legal opinion, he argued that domestic animals are subject to veterinarian-client confidentiality, writing that “a veterinarian may not violate the confidential relationship between the veterinarian and the veterinarian’s client.”
“With more than 400 puppies and 15 cats being abused in a research lab, Ken Paxton’s office helped cover it up, ensuring that records would not be released to the public,” the Texas Democratic Party tweeted on Thursday. “This guy is sick.”
It’s not the first time Paxton has drawn the ire of animal rights activists.
During his time in the Texas House of Representatives, Paxton in 2011 was one of just 15 House Republicans to vote against HB 963 — bill requiring convicted animal abusers to pay for housing and care of animals they abused.
Paxton’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to the Current’s request for comment on the resurfaced article.
Meanwhile, his opponent in the Senate race, Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, has seized the moment, holding a “Puppies for Talarico” rally at 4 p.m. Thursday at Austin’s Celis Brewery, 10001 Metric Blvd.

###