Here’s a roundup of the latest, biggest news stories related to animal research—all the recent media coverage you need to know right now to be the most effective activist for animals in labs.
USDA Says It Held Ridglan Accountable. We Say: Prove It.
Lindsey Soffes, Rise for Animals, 6/18/2026
Shortly after the news of Ridglan Farms’ closure broke, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins publicly claimed the agency’s credit for it. She said that the USDA’s actions directly “led to” Ridglan’s shut-down and the rescue of its remaining hundreds of dogs.
But that’s a very different story than the USDA’s public record indicates.
Discover what the available records indicate USDA did—and didn’t—do in regards to Ridglan Farms: 📰 Full Story →
NIH Launches Office to Reduce Animal Use
Christie Hendrickson, Rise for Animals, 6/17/2026
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has just launched a new federal office dedicated to advancing human-based research methods and reducing animal use in research.
Does this indicate a turning point for our movement to end animal experimentation? 📰 Full Story →
‘One of the worst.’ N.J. lab faces federal complaint over alleged mouse mistreatment
Victoria Gladstone, NJ.com, 6/11/2026
“A Mercer County laboratory is facing serious allegations of animal mistreatment, according to a newly filed federal complaint. The Hamilton-based lab Invivotek is the target of a federal watchdog complaint alleging that mice were found dead and left unmonitored with tumors that went beyond established humane treatment.”
“The report says workers used cervical dislocation without sedation, a process that involves killing animals by breaking their necks. It also alleges mice suffered severe eye injuries, including blindness and ruptured eyeballs. It also claims tumor-bearing mice were not properly monitored, leading to animals routinely being found dead, while others with significant weight loss were left without assessment, euthanasia or care.” 📰 Full Story →
China Progress! 2026 Proposal to Allow Some Special Use Cosmetics to Bypass Animal Testing
Suzana Rose, Cruelty-Free Kitty, 6/12/2026
“For decades, China has been the single biggest obstacle to a cruelty-free beauty industry. The country required both domestically manufactured and imported cosmetics to be tested on animals before they could be sold, which is the main reason so many major brands still aren’t cruelty-free today. The first change happened in 2014, when China made it possible for brands who manufacture their products domestically to bypass pre-market animal testing. Then, in 2021, imported cosmetics also received a possible exception. This meant that foreign brands not made in China were finally able to bypass both pre-market and post-market animal testing for the first time ever as long as they only sell ‘ordinary use cosmetics’.”
“Now, a new proposal from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) would push it further by extending these exemptions to some ‘special use cosmetics’ . . . On March 31, 2026, the NMPA released a draft of new rules that would widen that door to cover more types of products. In plain terms, here’s what could now skip animal testing to enter China: • Perm and curl treatments . . . • Semi-permanent hair dyes . . . • Spot-whitening products . . . • Everyday cosmetics that contain a newly approved ingredient still in its trial monitoring period….”
“A few weeks later, on April 24, 2026, China announced something just as promising. Its 2026 cosmetics standards plan includes developing new ways to test whether a product is safe without using animals, such as a method that uses cells in a lab instead of live animals.” 📰 Full Story →
Wisconsin beagle research facility that drew protests is closing as rescue group takes in dogs
Philip Marcelo, Associated Press, 6/15/2026
“A Wisconsin beagle breeding and research facility that’s been the site of recent violent protests is closing, and its remaining dogs are being taken in by a Florida rescue group. Big Dog Ranch Rescue announced Monday that it has reached an agreement for the permanent closure of Ridglan Farms and the transfer of its 475 remaining beagles starting this week. ‘Not one dog will remain,’ Lauree Simmons, the group’s founder, said in a news conference at a farm in Wisconsin. ‘No more breeding, no more testing, no more anything.’”
“Simmons said her group is also ‘working closely’ with the Trump administration to stop funding studies that subject dogs to ‘invasive and painful experimentation.’ Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., called Monday’s deal a ‘major win for animal welfare’ in a post on X.” 📰 Full Story →
Two funds helping investors navigate animal testing concerns
Dominic Rowles, PA future, 6/16/2026
“ . . . our most recent Sustainable Investor Survey revealed 50% of clients were uncomfortable investing in companies that conducted animal testing….”
“Two funds that the HL fund research team rates highly are Aegon Ethical Equity and Janus Henderson UK Responsible Income. . . . [Aegon Ethical Equity] uses a strict exclusions-based approach. It won’t invest in companies involved in activities deemed unethical” and “avoids companies that provide animal testing services, or that sell animal-tested cosmetics or pharmaceuticals. The fund applies several additional animal-related exclusions, including companies involved in intensive farming, companies that operate abattoirs and companies that produce or sell meat, poultry, fish, dairy or slaughterhouse by-products. . . . . [Janus Henderson UK Responsible Income] doesn’t invest in companies that make vitamins, cosmetics, soaps or toiletries, unless it’s clear their products and ingredients are not animal tested.” 📰 Full Story →
The EU needs to back its ambition to end animal testing with cash
Nature, 6/17/2026
“[The European Commission] recognizes that its research agenda will need to be financed — but it must also recognize that the sums of money needed will greatly exceed what is currently on offer for research into non-animal alternatives. Over the past two decades, this has averaged around €50 million (US$58 million) annually for all member states. If the EU is serious about ending animal testing, it will have to provide much more cash in its next research-funding round.”
“The EU’s road map is an important statement of intent, and underscores its commitment to animals as sentient beings. But EU leaders must reconsider the level of their funding commitment if they want to achieve their ambition, and the milestones must have timelines attached. That will enable them to be held to account, including by those whose advocacy set them on the current path.” 📰 Full Story →
Trump, RFK Jr. take credit for ‘freeing’ Ridglan Farms beagles. Do they deserve it?
Laura Schulte, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/17/2026
“Should President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. be given credit for the release of hundreds of beagles this week from a Wisconsin testing and breeding facility? It’s not clear if the two served a role, but the administration has taken to social media to champion the dogs’ release, after the facility announced it would release the last of the beagles this summer and shutter its business.”
“While it is unclear if either Trump or Kennedy participated in the release of the beagles, the administration is launching efforts to halt the use of animal testing. Big Dog Ranch Rescue founder Lauree Simmons said at a June 15 media conference that she has been working with Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, on that effort, including on legislation and on the creation of a new research center that will move testing away from the use of animals, called the Office of Research, Innovation, Validation and Application, or ORIVA. . . . ‘We are working very closely with the Trump administration, RFK Jr., and the Department of Health and Human Services and are very confident they will move away from funding studies that subject dogs to invasive and painful experimentation,’ Simmons said.” 📰 Full Story →
Cruelty-Free As An On-Ramp Into The Animal Movement
karol orzechowski, Faunalytics, 6/17/2026
“A recent exploratory study from Te Protejo finds interesting links between cruelty-free ethics and veganism.”
“In a recent six-month program . . . participants who entered the program already buying only cruelty-free cosmetics were more than twice as likely to be vegan by the end – 45% against 22% for everyone else. While the evaluation was an exploratory one . . . the takeaway was that the movement has been looking for ‘pre-vegans’ in too narrow a place, and that the bathroom cabinet might be as promising an entry point as the dinner plate.”
“Cruelty-free cosmetics are the consumer-facing edge of a value that is, right now, reshaping federal drug policy and broader scientific research regulation around the world. In other words, anti-vivisection isn’t a quaint Victorian cause the movement outgrew. Indeed, it may be the most winnable and least polarized front in the entire animal advocacy landscape — and the one diet advocacy is least connected to.” 📰 Full Story →