Ridglan Farms

This court case completely flipped. Now, Ridglan is shutting down its breeding operation!

The Dane County District Attorney’s office failed to prosecute Ridglan Farms for criminal animal cruelty, but former defendant Wayne Hsiung and local groups Dane4Dogs and Alliance for Animals filed a petition with the Dane County Courthouse asking the court to appoint a special prosecutor to prosecute Ridglan. Dane County Judge Rhonda Lanford agreed to hold an evidentiary hearing, which took place on October 24, 2024. The Animal Activist Legal Defense Project represented Dane4Dogs. The court heard testimony from investigator Wayne Hsiung, veterinarians, and former Ridglan employees who testified about the company's routine abuse of dogs, including non-veterinarians conducting surgeries on dogs without anesthetics. After reviewing this evidence, Judge Lanford issued her ruling on January 9, 2025. She granted the petition to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and prosecute Ridglan Farms for animal cruelty! On February 5, the Court appointed La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke to be the special prosecutor on this case. On October 28, 2025, Ridglan struck a deal where they agreed to shut down their breeding operation by July 1, 2026 to avoid felony animal cruelty charges.

This was a huge win, but it left around 2,000 dogs still trapped at Ridglan despite the known abuse there. With the clock ticking to save them, activists from across the country united at Ridglan Farms for two mass open rescue attempts. First, on March 15, 2026, over 100 nonviolent activists entered the facility and removed 30 dogs. 8 dogs were seized by police and returned to Ridglan, but 22 made it to safety. 27 rescuers are arrested. Following this momentum, on April 18th, over 1,000 people converged at Ridglan to nonviolently attempt to save the dogs. Wisconsin law enforcement responded with tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and stinger grenades. They knocked peaceful activists to the ground and brutalized them, people who just wanted to help save dogs from abuse. This police brutality sparked widespread media attention and the pressure on Ridglan became impossible to ignore. Shortly after this, Ridglan agreed to release 1,500 beagles, after a coalition of rescue organizations negotiated an agreement for their surrender. This included Big Dog Ranch Rescue and the Center for a Humane Economy. While this is a victory for the 1500 dogs who are now feeling the grass and the sun for the first time, it is also a sobering reminder that our justice system failed to protect animals from documented felony cruelty — and that private citizens and rescue groups had to step in where authorities would not. Negotiations are continuing to hopefully secure the release of the remaining ~500 beagles still trapped at Ridglan Farms before July 1st.