Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have a new dog in their life: Mama Mia.
The pooch is one of 4,000 beagles that was recently rescued from a depressing existence in a squalid research facility.
In July, federal authorities rescued 7-year-old Mia and several thousand other beagles from a Virginia breeding plant operated by a company called Envigo, after they found conditions at the squalid plant to be unsanitary and overcrowded.
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She was taken in by Harry and Meghan, and now lives with the Sussex family on their sprawling Montecito estate.
Shannon Keith, a lawyer who runs a beagle rehoming charity told the Los Angeles Times: “The duchess called me personally…She calls on my cell with no Caller ID and says, ‘Hey Shannon, this is Meghan.’”
Despite talking to Meghan for over 30 minutes, Keith said, she thought she was talking to actress Megan Fox.
But it was actually Meghan Markle who arrived at the charity’s HQ with her husband and two security guards.
Keith told the LA Times: “The duchess is holding Mia and was like, ‘We’re adopting her.’ She was like ‘No, we don’t want a Christmas puppy. … We want ones we can help who are older.’”
Keen students of Meghan’s animal husbandry preferences will know that the duchess has had a rescue beagle before and is said to have bonded with the queen over canine-centric conversation.
It has also been reported that when the queen was asked if she thought Meghan and Harry had really left the royal family and the U.K. for good, she replied, “Yes, they’ve taken the dogs.”
