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.
Ridglan Shocked the Public. Marshall Should Too.
Rise for Animals, 8/12/2026
If you’ve followed the rescue of 2,000+ beagles from Ridglan Farms, you need to know about Marshall BioResources.
Marshall is by far the largest U.S. supplier of dogs for experiments.
At Marshall in May 2026, federal inspectors reported 5,394 puppies, 9,171 adult dogs, and 11,706 ferrets. That’s 26,271 animals—more than 13x the number of dogs freed from Ridglan. And that astonishing figure represents the animals inside just ONE of Marshall’s sites in New York State. 📰 Full Story →
PETA asks USDA to investigate UW-Madison primate research incidents
Kayla Dembiec, Channel3000, 8/7/2026
“People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate two incidents involving monkeys at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, citing what the group describes as repeated animal welfare violations.”
“In the first incident, PETA said, a monkey was attacked through an adjacent food opening and required a forearm amputation. In the second, workers allegedly failed to secure interlocking doors, allowing adjacent monkeys to fight and leaving one with severe oral injuries. . . . ‘If you, as a scientific institution, can’t ensure that monkeys’ fingers aren’t bitten off by other stressed monkeys, you have no business calling yourself a scientist, and you need to find another line of work,’ a [sic] Chandna [VP of PETA Laboratory Oversight] said.” 📰 Full Story →
This scientist quit her job in animal testing to fight for monkeys caged in the labs
Kerrie O’Brien, The Sydney Morning Herald, 8/10/2026
“Dr Lisa Jones-Engel knows more about macaques than anyone else in the world. One of the most decorated scientists at the University of Washington’s primate centre, she spent much of her life working daily with the monkeys, which share about 96 per cent of their DNA with humans. But in 2019 the Seattle-based primatologist had an epiphany: she decided that working with animals to be used in the research for new drugs was wrong, diabolically so. She quit her job and became chief scientist with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).”
“‘Some people portray me as a scientist who became an activist, and that’s not what it is,’ Jones-Engel says. ‘As a scientist, my job was to understand everything I could about macaques, about our relationship with macaques, about how diseases move back and forth with them. I was always asking questions. And the answers that I was getting were what made me change … to understand the answer to those questions, and say, this can’t go on.’”
“Knowledge carries obligation, according to Jones-Engel. ‘I had a debt to these animals, I had an obligation to these animals, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m carrying my understanding of who they are.’” 📰 Full Story →
Animal advocates celebrate one year since hospital canine research exposed
Brent Lale, CTV News, 8/10/2026
“Animal advocates gathered outside St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ont. to mark the one-year anniversary of the exposing of canine research.”
“‘We’re also here to remember all of the lives that were lost, right?’ says Kenzie Kirschner . . . ‘There was a lot of dogs that died here at this hospital but there were some who were rescued, which is incredible. We know they were released but we still don’t know where they are, which makes it a little bit difficult to fully celebrate that because we do wonder, did they make it to the homes that they deserved? Lastly, we’re here to bring some more attention to the other animals that continue to be tested on here. We know that the hospital continues to test on pigs, rats and mice, and I just don’t think that’s OK.’” 📰 Full Story →
PETA: Victory! La Crosse-based Kwik Trip joins nationwide push for animal-free research
WISPolitics, 8/11/2026
“ . . . La Crosse-based Kwik Trip, one of the largest privately held convenience store chains with more than 900 locations across the Midwest, has taken steps to ensure that its donations to the University of Wisconsin–Madison Food Research Institute will not support cruel experiments on animals.”
“The Food Research Institute uses animals in food and ingredient tests. It has funded experiments that include force-feeding mice parasite-infested feces and forcing pregnant monkeys to eat listeria-contaminated whipping cream before cutting them open and dissecting the fetuses killed by the bacteria. Experimenters have also injected mice with bacteria that cause botulism, waited for them to die, and dissected them.”
“Following complaints from PETA and university donors, the institute changed its sponsorship policy and created the ‘Food Research Institute Programmatic (Non-animal) Support Fund,’ which allows sponsors to prohibit their donations from being spent on animal studies. Kwik Trip joins PepsiCo, Inc., Campbell Soup Company, and 20 other sponsors that have either directed their donations to the animal-free fund or cut off sponsorship entirely.” 📰 Full Story →
California protesters press Amgen to cut ties with beagle breeder cited by USDA
Leslie Sattler, TCD, 8/11/2026
“Amgen is facing renewed criticism from animal-rights campaigners over its business relationship with a breeder that supplies beagles and other animals for laboratory research.”
“Protesters with Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, gathered outside the [Thousand Oaks] campus with ‘Save the Dogs’ placards and beagle photos . . . At the heart of the demonstration was Marshall BioResources, also called Marshall Farms. The Acorn described the company as an international breeder that supplies purpose-bred animals to research labs.”
“Activists say the dispute is not limited to Amgen. Because Marshall BioResources supplies animals globally, they argue that business from major clients helps sustain the company’s operations.” 📰 Full Story →
Ridglan Farms beagles: Last dogs released from Wisconsin facility
Bryan Polcyn, FOX6 Milwaukee, 8/12/2026
“The last Ridglan Farms beagles left the Wisconsin facility on Wednesday, marking an end to a years-long animal rights campaign and legal battle. . . . Big Dog Ranch Rescue, a large-scale nonprofit that helped secure the dogs’ release, said there were 155 beagles still inside – 14 adult dogs and 141 puppies, many as young as three or four months.”
“According to Big Dog Ranch Rescue’s executive director, Ridglan Farms is now out of business for good, but the animal rights activists said their fight against animal testing is far from over. Some are focused on a smaller dog breeding facility in Spring Green, Tri Valley Resources, which has about 150 coon hounds bred for research. Activists across the country are turning their attention toward Marshal Bioresources in New York; the nation’s largest beagle breeding farm is eight times larger than Ridglan Farms.” 📰 Full Story →
Doctors Fault Oregon Primate Lab for Misleading Claims
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 8/12/2026
“Doctors are raising concerns about a misleading press release about the Oregon National Primate Research Center claiming that, according to a new study, a new experimental treatment ‘may permanently clear HIV in infected newborns.’ . . . The problem, according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, was that the experimenters were not studying HIV and there were no newborn humans in the study.”
“The experimenters used a different virus to infect infant monkeys, then reported that drugs could eliminate it, speculating that the same regimen might work in HIV-infected humans. The doctors also raised the question as to why monkeys were used at all, given that the drugs in question are already used in human clinical trials. Two of the study’s authors admitted having “a significant financial interest” in CytoDyn, the manufacturer of one of the drugs.” 📰 Full Story →