Special Prosecutor Appointed to Investigate Beagle Breeding Facility: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
January 9, 2025

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Madison, Wis. –

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna regarding Dane County Circuit Judge Rhonda Lanford’s appointment of a special prosecutor “to investigate alleged violations of Wisconsin’s animal cruelty laws by Ridglan Farms, Inc., a commercial dog breeding facility located in Dane County, Wisconsin”:

PETA applauds Judge Lanford for appointing a special prosecutor to investigate massive beagle-breeder Ridglan Farms and congratulates Dane4Dogs, Wayne Hsiung, and Alliance for Animals for exposing the appalling conditions there, where beagles are imprisoned in circumstances strikingly similar to those uncovered at the now-closed Envigo beagle-breeding facility.

Shocking testimony presented to the court included a former employee’s account of staff cutting off swollen eyelid glands—known as “cherry eye”—with scissors, without anesthesia or painkillers. We hope this investigation results in prosecution and jail time.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.