Ridglan Farms Is Closing. The Dogs Will Go Free.
Ridglan Farms—the country’s second-largest breeder of dogs for research—is shutting down for good, as reported by FOX6 Milwaukee. A total of 325 dogs will be released today and tomorrow. The final 150 dogs still held in active research will be freed as those experiments conclude in August. This is an extraordinary and hard-fought victory.
It is exceedingly rare for a public pressure campaign to force a major breeder and research facility to close its doors. This is the power of collective action. Partners across the animal rights movement worked tirelessly to keep these dogs in the headlines. Activists, rescuers, journalists, and advocates refused to look away. Rise for Animals is proud to stand beside them.
To the Rise for Animals community: thank you. Every action you took helped make this possible. Every record you shared. Every call you made. Every email you sent. Every time you raised your voice for these dogs. Together, we exposed what was happening behind Ridglan’s locked doors and helped build the pressure that finally gave these dogs a chance at freedom.
This campaign is proof that public pressure works. It is a blueprint for how we dismantle the animal experimentation industry—one victory at a time.
Ridglan’s closure, combined with today’s announcement from the National Institutes of Health—that it is launching a new federal office dedicated, in part, to reducing animal use—offers a reminder that progress comes both from freeing animals trapped in the system and building a future that no longer depends on them.
The permanent closing of Ridglan is momentous, but it does not close the pipeline. Records recently uncovered by Rise for Animals and reported by FOX6 Milwaukee exposed one of the many institutions that purchased Ridglan-bred dogs and used them in painful experiments. These institutions are still operating.
According to the latest USDA data, the demand for dogs is not disappearing. From 2024 to 2025, laboratory holding and use of dogs appears to have declined by only a few percentage points, and over 41,000 dogs remained trapped. As long as laboratories continue demanding animals, the industry will find ways to source them.
So we must keep going. The beagles who finally know freedom deserve celebration. But millions more animals remain trapped in laboratories. Dogs, cats, rabbits, rats, mice, monkeys, and many others are still caged, experimented on, and killed by an industry that profits from their suffering. We will honor the dogs of Ridglan by continuing the fight that freed them. And we will continue working alongside our partners until animal experimentation is abolished and every cage is empty.