AN OPEN LETTER TO CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIES CEO BIRGIT GIRSHICK Dear Ms. Girshick, My name is Chip. I am a dog walker from Sterling, less than a twenty minute drive from your facility on Union Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. I am not a scientist. I am not a lobbyist. I am just a man who loves animals. I was troubled when I found out what CRL was doing to beagles and other animals at 55-57 Union Street. I have driven past that building many times. It pains me to know those dogs are there. That is not an abstraction to me — it is a daily ache. I am asking you, person to person, to let them go. Please stop canine experiments entirely. Stop what is underway. Cancel what is pending. Adopt out all dogs with the help of verified rescue groups, fosters and adopters. They are waiting, I promise you. Start at 55 Union Street in Worcester. Let those beagles go to loving homes. Prove it can be done. Then carry that commitment to Wilmington, Shrewsbury, Edinburgh, Mattawan, Reno, to every building on every continent that bears the Charles River name. You are stepping into leadership at a genuine inflection point. The FDA Modernization Act 2.0 has opened the door for NAMs. You could retrain your workforce. The science has moved. The law has moved. The moral consensus of the American public has moved. The infrastructure is there. Massachusetts could be the center and driving force behind a long overdue evolution of science that does not require the suffering of a single animal. The only question is whether Charles River will lead that movement or be overtaken by it. The reputational repair alone would be staggering. But more than strategy, more than brand — this is simply the right thing to do. I am one solitary citizen and your neighbor. But I believe ordinary people still have the right to ask great things of powerful institutions. I am asking. With hope, Chip