Activists demand that Dane County DA prosecute Ridglan Farms for animal cruelty

Denied a trial, they are seeking to turn the tables on the dog breeding and research facility in Blue Mounds

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About three dozen animal rights activists, and one dog (a service animal), dropped by the Dane County District Attorney’s Office Monday morning to demand that it bring criminal charges of animal mistreatment against Ridglan Farms, a dog breeding and research facility in the town of Blue Mounds near Mount Horeb.

Wayne Hsiung, a California-based activist whose trial on felony charges of burglary and theft was supposed to start today, presented what he referred to as a “criminal complaint,” as well as statements from others alleging violations of animal cruelty laws at the facility. “We’re asking the DA’s office to enforce the law,” he said.

Hsiung spoke in the front-office lobby for about nine minutes with investigator Ryan Greeno. As activists gathered in the packed area, Hsiung presented Greeno with “new evidence,” garnered from employees of the facility, of dogs being subjected to mutilating procedures without anesthetics as well as documented “unsanitary and unsafe conditions,” on which he proceeded to elaborate. “What’s happening at Ridglan is not only unseemly and disturbing from a moral perspective, it is a crime.” 

Just before Greeno appeared, Hsuing told the activists that Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne had “spoken and written in the past about the need to protect vulnerable parties in this county,” which he saw as a hopeful sign. 

Greeno said Ozanne was unavailable but promised that the submitted materials would be reviewed by an attorney and a reply provided. “Typically, we take referrals for criminal complaints from law-enforcement agencies,” Greeno noted. “Typically, citizens can’t just drop off complaints.” When asked by Hsiung whether the office needed anything else from the activists, the investigator replied. “This is pretty thorough. Obviously, you have a lot of support. I appreciate all of that.” After the meeting, Hsiung told the assembled activists that “this was the most substantive conversation we’ve had” with anyone from law enforcement about Ridglan Farms. Making this exchange especially noteworthy is that Greeno was listed on a court filing as one of the witnesses for the prosecution, in the case set for trial.

As reported in the March issue of Isthmus, Hsiung and two others were charged in connection with an April 2017 break-in at Ridglan Farms, home to more than 3,000 “purpose bred” beagles, raised and sold to researchers across the country, including the University of Wisconsin. They each faced a possible maximum sentence of 16 years in prison. But on March 8, the charges were dismissed on a motion from the DA’s office. The office said in a filing that the “victims in this case,” Ridglan Farms, had asked that the charges be dismissed due to heightening “concerns for their physical safety, as well as for their business.” 

In court, Assistant DA Alexandra Keyes cited “the death threats and the coming after the business which the victims have now started enduring.” No substantiating evidence of these death threats was presented. Ozanne, asked by a reporter whether his office had any evidence of death threats before stating in court that they had occurred, replied: “I was told by the victims in the presence of their attorney that they had received the threats. I have no reason at this point to doubt the statements made at that meeting. I believe the Sheriff’s Office will be looking into those matters.” 

Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Elise Schaffer, in response to a query, said “we are looking into some recent threats” but did not clarify if they were death threats, as the DA’s office stated.

The so-called criminal complaint delivered today contained a shocking accusation regarding experimentation it said had occurred in 2021 and may still be occurring, in which dogs are “forcibly restrained and [have] glands cut out of their eye without any painkillers or veterinary supervision.” It said this procedure “is just one of numerous surgical mutilations performed on Ridglan dogs in direct contradiction to normal and accepted veterinary practice.” The complaint also cited problems with animal care that have been flagged by state and federal inspectors.

Included with this complaint was a nine-page report from Bonnie Klapper, a former federal prosecutor in California and New York who purported to have “made an extensive study of the laws governing animal cruelty in the United States,” as well as a review of evidence regarding conditions at Ridglan Farms. It alleges “long-term, extensive violations of Wisconsin’s animal cruelty laws” at the facility. She stated in conclusion: “There is far more than probable cause to believe that Ridglan, and by extension, its owners, is engaging in intentional acts of criminal animal cruelty, causing the dogs in their care intense physical and psychological pain, suffering, mutilation and sickness.”

Sherstin Rosenberg, a California-based veterinarian, also produced a report after reviewing documentation regarding conditions at Ridglan Farms. Rosenberg wrote: “A persistent pattern of animal cruelty emerged from the data reviewed. More concerning is Ridglan’s failure to rectify these matters despite awareness over a number of years. Due to poor management practices and improper housing, thousands of Ridglan dogs have been and continue to be subjected to psychological torment, painful infections, and surgical mutilations. The persistence of these problems over nearly a decade suggests that the facility has no intention of improving the situation, and that they will continue business as usual unless further action is taken.”

Ridglan Farms did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the activists’ request for its prosecution; it did not respond to two prior attempts to get its perspective.

In a rally on the steps of the Dane County Courthouse after these materials were delivered, Eva Hamer, another of the criminal defendants charged in the theft of dogs from Ridglan, said the dismissal of the charges at Ridglan Farms’ behest showed that the facility is “scared” about public awareness of its operation. She said it made perfect sense. “It is scary to have a lot of people not like what you’re doing.”

Hamer told the assembled that “times have changed a lot since we rescued those dogs in 2017,” noting that a similarly sized beagle-breeding operation in Virginia was forced to close after being cited for multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act, leading to thousands of dogs being released into loving homes. She said it bodes ill for the future of animal research: “We’re going to see the end of it, in our lifetimes.” 

Hsiung, in turn, echoed these sentiments, telling the gathering: “The time is coming when all of the animals of this Earth, the beagles at Ridglan, the pigs and chickens in factory farms, will be given the freedom, and dignity and safety that they’ve always deserved.”

After the rally at the courthouse, the activists headed to the UW-Madison to register their dissent to its continued use of dogs and other animals in research. Other events are planned every day through Sunday, including a vigil at Ridglan Farms Tuesday and a Dog Defenders March set for this Saturday, March 23, beginning at 2 p.m. at James Madison Park.