A beagle breeding facility in Wisconsin is giving up its remaining dogs, the facility and rescue groups said on June 15.
The groups also said the facility would close for good.
Ridglan Farms said in a statement on June 15 that the dogs are “happy, healthy animals” with extensive state and federal inspection documentation.
“We hope these dogs will continue to flourish in their new homes,” the company said, adding that it hopes that the “years-long harassment campaign targeting the research facility’s owners, staff and neighbors comes to an end.”
Big Dog Ranch Rescue, a Florida-based rescue group, said the 475 remaining beagles would be transferred to facilities in Florida and Alabama. Some will be spayed or neutered and prepared for adoption.
“Not one dog will remain,” Lauree Simmons, the group’s founder, said during a news conference at a farm in Wisconsin on June 15. “No more breeding, no more testing, no more anything.”
Simmons said the agreement also featured the permanent closure of Ridglan Farms, as did the Center for a Humane Economy, citing conversations with one of the facility’s lawyers and two of its employees.
“I didn’t want to wait any longer to share this extraordinary news of Ridglan’s impending closure, since it has been such an eagerly awaited outcome for many millions of Americans,” Wayne Pacelle, president of the center, said in a statement.
Ridglan Farms, which says on its website that its mission is “to provide Purpose Bred Beagles for research that increases and exceeds the expectations of the research community,” could not be reached.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in a video statement, welcomed the news of the transfer. He said that it was “a major win for animal welfare.”
Ridglan Farms agreed in 2025 to give up its state breeding license as of July 1 as part of a deal to avoid prosecution on felony animal mistreatment charges.
The firm has denied mistreating animals, but a special prosecutor determined that Ridglan Farms was performing eye procedures that violated state veterinary standards.
In March, protesters broke in and stole 30 dogs from the facility, which is located about 25 miles southwest of Madison.
The following month, hundreds of activists attempted to enter the facility and were met by law enforcement officers. Multiple people were arrested.
Ridglan Farms said in its statement that it hoped “Wisconsin’s legal system will hold accountable the individuals who organized and carried out the repeated violent assaults and thefts that have recently taken place at our facility.”
