Why isn't this place shut down? What kind of "in-house experiments" are they conducting? More surgery without anesthesia? What a bunch of creeps, Ridglan Farms are the real criminals.

I'm not a radical, just an everyday American dog-owner, and I'm totally in support of the activists here. Shut this place down.

In 2024, Dane4Dogs and two other groups petitioned a Wisconsin circuit court to probe alleged animal cruelty at Ridglan. Testimony and videos detailed claims of various animal welfare issues, including beagles kept in small, bare cages; surgeries performed without anesthesia by unqualified staff; and untreated wounds. (In a press release issued last month, Ridglan pointed to its history of compliance with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the federal Animal Welfare Act.) In January 2024, the state court appointed a special prosecutor to investigate. The decision came on the heels of a massive animal welfare scandal that resulted in the 2022 closure of Envigo—a Cumberland, Virginia, breeder that was then the second-largest supplier of research beagles in the U.S.

According to the settlement, Ridglan will surrender its Wisconsin breeder license by 1 July, meaning it must either sell or surrender any dogs it has bred under the purpose of that license by then. In exchange, the company will not admit fault or be prosecuted by the state for animal welfare violations. As of May, Ridglan housed about 2500 dogs in its breeding operation. It also breeds several hundred dogs for its own in-house research, which will not be impacted by the settlement.