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Ridglan Farms is a dog factory farm that for decades profited off misery as it bred and sold thousands of beagles to the highest bidder: experimenters who poisoned, mutilated, and killed them in cruel tests. But now, this perverse puppy pipeline has leapt closer to shutting down.
The massive Wisconsin facility has agreed to surrender its state breeding license by July 1, 2026, to avoid charges of criminal cruelty to animals. This monumental news—which comes following years of pressure from Alliance for Animals, the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, Dane4Dogs, Direct Action Everywhere, PETA, The Simple Heart, and other groups—means the second-largest U.S. breeder of beagle puppies for experimentation will no longer be able to breed dogs for laboratories.
It’s huge progress that will help curb a deadly cycle of dog abuse. But Ridglan Farms is still permitted to sell beagles to laboratories until that deadline—and thousands of dogs remain trapped there. We need your help to demand that universities that purchased dogs from Ridglan cut ties with this disreputable supplier, commit to never buying dogs for experiments again, and invest in state-of-the-art, non-animal research methods..
Profiting Off Puppy Pain
Animal advocates documented abysmal conditions at Ridglan Farms, including dogs confined to tiny metal cages stacked inside a windowless shed. Beagles were kept in filth, suffered from untreated wounds, and had swollen feet from standing on wire floors.
In 2024, a former Ridglan employee testified that staff cut off dogs’ swollen eyelid glands with scissors, without pain relief or a veterinary license. Witnesses described dogs crying out, thrashing, and bleeding before being returned to cages without treatment.
Multiple authorities—a Wisconsin circuit court judge, two state agencies, licensed veterinarians, and independent experts—confirmed that Ridglan repeatedly performed invasive surgeries on dogs without pain relief, violating state law, veterinary standards, and norms of basic decency.
A special prosecutor, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke, was appointed to investigate the company’s apparent cruelty to animals. Rather than face charges, Ridglan copped a deal and surrendered its breeding license.
Many dogs didn’t make it out of Ridglan Farms alive. Records show nearly 275 puppies born each year at its facility died while still there. Those who did survive were sold to laboratories for a short life of misery, isolation, and torment in pointless experiments.
What You Can Do
As part of its agreement with the special prosecutor, Ridglan Farms must end its dog-breeding operation for laboratories by July 1, 2026. But that’s far too long for the dogs still trapped there. Universities that have purchased dogs from Ridglan must immediately commit to cutting ties with this disreputable supplier, stop funding its operations, and transition to non-animal research methods.
Please urge the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Missouri-Columbia to act now to help ensure that dogs still imprisoned at Ridglan are released and placed in caring homes.
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