Blue Mounds, Wisconsin – The Wisconsin beagle farm at the heart of recent protests and media attention is shutting down. On Monday, Big Dog Ranch Rescue announced the closure of Ridglan Farms, and rescue of nearly 500 beagles.
In a social media post, the rescue agency said:
Big Dog Ranch Rescue has secured a binding agreement for the permanent closure of Ridglan Farms and the transfer of all remaining beagles to rescue, completing the rescue of 2,110 dogs and ensuring that no dog is left behind.
Secretary Kennedy backed up the announcement, stating:
In May 1500 beagles were released from the research facility and transferred to two non-profit rescue groups…escaping the threat of being sold for scientific research.
Ridglan historically operated as both a large-scale commercial breeder of beagles for the biomedical research industry and a licensed research facility, supplying thousands of dogs to pharmaceutical companies, universities, and contract testing laboratories while also conducting a smaller portion of studies on-site under veterinary supervision. The facility has long been part of the upstream pipeline for animal research in the United States, specializing in breeding dogs with consistent genetics and health profiles for use in safety testing and other experiments.
Ridglan Farms has been under ongoing scrutiny for concerning conditions at their facility. To avoid facing criminal charges, they agreed to surrender their breeding license by July 1, 2026, but they will still be able to do research on the dogs on site.
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