Ridglan Farms in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin isn’t the quintessential Wisconsin farm that might come to mind. It’s a 60-year-old site for dog breeding, which then sells those dogs for animal testing. The story of the farm, its the caged beagles and the activists breaking into the facility has gone viral nationally.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigative reporter Quinn Clark has been covering this story. Here’s what she says you need to know.
What to know about Ridglan Farms
The facility is located about 30 miles west of Madison and according to court records is owned by veterinarians James Burns, Jeffrey Ballmer and David Williams. The farm has been a long-time Wisconsin licensed dog breeder, but has recently been under fire with allegations of mistreatment and abuse. As of the beginning of this year, it was estimated that the facility housed over 3,000 dogs.
“They’re mostly breeding dogs so they could sell them to other facilities,” says Clark. “The big complaints about Ridglan farms, and claims of mistreatment, don’t have to necessarily do with research going on in the facility. They have to do with how they took care of the dogs.”
In January of 2025, a former employee testified that some dogs has their eye glands and vocal cords cut without anesthesia. They also had sores on their paws and didn’t have access to sunlight or regular human contact.
Ridgland released a statement saying that the “dogs here are happy, healthy and well cared for. Publicly available USDA documentation shows that this has been the case for many years.”
However, in a settlement last fall resulting from testimony from former employees, the facility will surrender its state breeding license for selling beagles to researchers.
What to know about the activists
While local activists have been aware of the facility for years, this fight went viral when Wayne Hsiung, an animal rights attorney and activist got involved. He’s a co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere, a national animal rights organization which is often public in its targets.
“Wayne is an animal rights attorney and has been an animal rights activist for a long time,” Clark says. ”That wasn’t his first 'open rescue' — they wanted pictures [and] videos because they believe they have the right to save the dogs.”
Hsiung and local activists also partnered with The Marty Project, a nonprofit that’s long lobbied to remove dogs from lab testing and advocated for finding alternatives.
What to know about the raids
“On March 15, dozens of animal activists, led by Wayne Hsiung, broke into Ridglan Farms and they were able to take 23 beagles," says Clark. “And all of them are now at undisclosed locations.”
That morning, around 50 protesters broke into the facility. After removing the dogs, 27 people were arrested. Ridglan Farms said activists attempted to enter several buildings using sledgehammers, electric saws and crowbars.
There was a second planned action for April 19, this one much bigger than the first.
“They were going to go save all the dogs on April 19, over 2,000 of them at this point,” Clark says. “You could sign up on their website that was very public…and they had nonviolence training over Zoom. It sounded very organized…and then chaos ensued.”
Over 1,000 people attempted to break in on April 18, a day earlier than originally planned. The idea was that there would be less of a police presence. That wasn’t the case, as video from protestors show them being met by sheriff’s deputies deploying tear gas as they attempted to break into the facility. At least 25 people were arrested and no dogs were removed.
What to know about animal testing in Wisconsin
Does animal testing happen in Wisconsin? Yes. According to recent reports, almost 43,000 dogs were used for testing in 2024. The vast majority of those are with minimized pain trials. Dogs are used in animal testing because of their similar biology to humans. However, in 2022, under Trump’s FDA, they ended animal testing before human trials for some products, saying that alternative methods can be used instead.
“Researchers are divided if these alternative methods can be relied on," says Clark. "Some believe we’re on the way to completely eradicating animal research and being on the way to using AI or stem cell research. There’s also the argument that it’s not that accurate.”
In the state, the University of Wisconsin-Madison also uses dogs in medical research. In Clark’s reporting, she shared that UW-Madison spokesperson Chris Barncard clarified this testing is only used when no alternative methods exist. Barncard also pointed to the benefits that have come as a result of animal testing: advances in radiation therapy for cancer, organ transplants and preserving donor organs for transport. Testing has also been beneficial for dogs, including research that’s helped against diseases like kennel cough, rabies and heartworm.
What to know about the dogs
There have been ongoing negotiations to remove the dogs from Ridglan. Matt Johnson, a spokesperson for the Coalition to Save the Ridglan Dogs, said there was a $1 million dollar offer to release all of the dogs. Big Dog Ranch Rescue and the Center for a Humane Economy came together for the financing.
“Eventually, according to the organizations who purchased the dogs, it was under $1 million,” Clark says. “But they came to an agreement with Ridglan to release 1,500 of the dogs. And shelters from across the country, and locally, were ready to take them in.”
On May 1, the first beagles left Ridglan — 300 in total. Out of the 1,500 dogs, 500 will remain in Wisconsin, the others will be flown to animal shelters across the U.S., including New York, Florida and Alabama.
