Doug Ford, the Premier of the province of Ontario in Canada, is apparently fond of dogs but not so fond of researchers who experiment on them. | Photo: Sean Kilpatrick / Keystone

On 7 August 2025, the National Post in Canada published a report on experiments at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London (Ontario) that involved inducing heart attacks in dogs. The news triggered intense outrage. Although every aspect had been in line with regulations, the hospital promptly ceased all research using dogs. Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario, then made the following announcement: “I have now directed our team to start hunting down anyone else doing research on dogs or cats”. He also promised to enact a ban on research using domestic animals. But the research community is speaking out against his plans. Félix Proulx-Giraldeau, the Executive Director of the organisation Evidence for Democracy, says, “my concern is that when politicians publicly direct what kinds of research can or cannot be done, especially with language that sounds like a threat, it risks bypassing those established processes”.