In 2017, six people made a choice. They walked into Ridglan Farms, even as alarms went off and security trucks came roaring up the driveway, and took Julie out of her cage. Right now, there is a dog trapped in a cage and days from a horrific death. The question that remains is what the people will do. The only way for us to save the dogs is for citizens to head to Wisconsin and just start rescuing them ourselves. If enough ordinary people step-up to join the rescue effort, we can get every dog out of Ridglan into a loving home. Thousands of lives are at stake. But together, we can save them all.
WAYNE HSIUNG: The government left Julie to die at Ridglan Farms. She was just a 1-year-old puppy at a research facility where inspectors documented horrific abuses. Something at the facility caused Julie to go blind. But despite their findings, government officials did nothing to help Julie or the other dogs. Desperate to escape, Julie would spin endlessly in her 2’ x 4’ metal cage, leaving her paws red and raw. If her blindness were discovered, she would almost certainly be killed as a “defective” dog. But I led a team of ordinary people (including a teacher, a roofer, and a music therapist) to rescue her, and bring her to a loving family instead…
Thousands of dogs have been sent to gruesome deaths at Ridglan Farms. The list of abuses documented at the facility over the years resembles a horror movie: beagles having their vocal cords ripped out; puppies injected with rabies; and even a sickly newborn thrown alive for disposal into a freezer bag. But what is even more shocking is that the government has known about abuses like these for at least 30 years—but refused to do anything to help…
Now the government plans to leave thousands more beagles to die at Ridglan in conditions that have been condemned by a Wisconsin judge as criminal abuse. The reason, quite simply, is corruption. A local prosecutor conceded, in a shocking legal filing, that his refusal to act was based in part on improper influence by the industry. As a result, despite overwhelming evidence of cruelty, Ridglan will continue operating for at least 6 months, sending thousands more dogs to their deaths…
What the government did not say, however, is that the cover-up continues. The 3000 dogs remaining at Ridglan will still be subjected to torture until July 2026. Worse yet, there is nothing to prevent Ridglan from simply rebranding its operation under another corporate entity and continuing the abuse. When we pointed this out to the special prosecutor, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke, he simply ignored our concern and claimed (falsely) that there was nothing more he could do to help the dogs…
I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way for us to save the dogs is for citizens to head to Wisconsin and just start rescuing them ourselves. I’ll be organizing legal briefings on Saturdays for anyone who can join (or support) the effort to rescue the Ridglan dogs. RSVP for the next meeting and see our plan here.
The question that remains, then, is what the people will do. In 2017, six people made our choice. We walked into Ridglan Farms, even as alarms went off and security trucks came roaring up the driveway, and we took Julie out of her cage. When I watched this little blind puppy jumping in joy in the weeks after the rescue, I knew what we did was right…
Right now, there is a dog trapped in a cage and days from a horrific death. We cannot say precisely what her fate will be: poisoned, injected with a deadly pathogen, or perhaps simply thrown away into a landfill. But we know that, if enough ordinary people step up to join the rescue effort, we can get her and every other dog out of Ridglan into a loving home. I hope you’ll join us. Thousands of lives are at stake. But together, we can save them all. SOURCE
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