Dogs of science; Wisconsin puppy mill could be exposed to criminal charges

Madison, Wis. – – A factory farm west of Madison that Beagle puppy for scientific experiments breeds is faced with both criminal and disciplinary investigations into the abuse of animals. Ridglan Farms houses more than 3,200 dogs, the only purpose of which is to be used or sold in scientific experiments.

In February, a judge of Dane County appointed La Crosse County Tim Gruenke's prosecutor to examine possible criminal charges. Last week, the Veterinary Manager of Wisconsin agreed to restore the surgical interventions, while it was a possible licensing for Dr. Richard van Domelen, Ridglan's senior veterinarian.

“Open rescue”

The background story:

Ridglan Farms was founded in 1966 and has been involved in the controversial area of ​​Beagles for animal research for almost 60 years. The factory farm is located in a remote area of ​​the Western Dane County and consists of a number of large agricultural buildings surrounded by barbed wire fences.

In 2017, animal rights activists who worked everywhere for direct actions entered the facility in the middle of the night to draw attention to what happened inside. Videos that you recorded show rows on rows of stacked metal cages, which are filled with 1-2 beagles in a long, windowless metal shed. The activists removed three beagles from their cages and then went the evidence of what they had done. One of the activists – former legal professor at Northwestern University, Wayne Hsiung – described the operation as “open rescue”.

Free download: Get Breaking News Warnings in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android

“If we can only point out what happens in Ridglan Farms, they are pursuing us, then we have to do that,” said Hsiung.

Turn tables

Timetable:

In 2021, four years after the activists removed the dogs, the da Dan County submitted criminal charges against Hsiung and two more because of burglar and theft.

The case was brought to court on March 22, 2024. But just two weeks before the start of the Ridglan Farms, they asked to drop the indictment, and feared the public counter reaction after the company received what it described as “death threats”.

Hsiung and his colleagues rejected the discharge of their own charges. On April 15, 2024, he and a group called Dane4Dogs turned the tables. They submitted a petition for the appointment of a special prosecutor to charges Ridglan farms due to abuse of animals.

In October 2024, former Ridglan employees said to take part in painful and bloody surgical interventions in order to remove the swollen eye rattles of the dogs. They had no veterinary license and said they did not use anesthesia, but rather the procedures on the instructions of Dr. Van Domelen carried out.

You are kind

Big Picture View:

Beagles have been popular subjects to scientific research since the 1950s when the US nuclear energy commission has subjected them to radiation. A book published in 1970 described Beagles as particularly suitable for experiments due to their “medium -sized”, manageable hair length and their “even temperament”.

Register today: Get daily headlines and break Nachrichten -E emails from FOX6 News

“They are enclosed. They are small. And they are gentle,” said Hsiung.

Fifty years later they are still bred and sold for laboratory tests.

Monkeys, rabbits and dogs

According to the numbers:

According to USDA, more than 28,000 animals are housed in laboratories all over Wisconsin. Dogs are more than 3,600 or 13%. The most common research animals are non -human primates (monkeys) and rabbits. This does not include mice, rats and fish that USDA does not pursue.

Of the 3,600 research dogs in Wisconsin, around 3% are involved in the tests at the University of Wisconsin Madison, the Madison Area Technical College and the SPF North America.

Twenty -one percent are experimented in Ridglan (in addition to thousands and kept for sale).

Most – more than 75% – are at Labcorp, a laboratory for private drug development, in Madison. It explains FOX6 researchers that treatment of dogs is “ethical” and leads to the development of “safe and effective new medication”.

Thank you for insulin for insulin

The other side:

Supporters say that a long list of medical advances is due to animal research.

“These therapies that come from this research benefit not only the dogs themselves, but also to people,” said Naomi Charlambakis with Americans for medical progress, which defends the scientific community against demands for funding in animal -based studies.

Charlambakis said insulin was only an example of human therapy that began researching dogs, the bodies of which she said of that they had great similarities to that of humans.

“It really helps the researchers to understand how an illness works or they know how basic biological processes work,” said Charlambakis.

Unexpected allies

Increw regulations for laws:

The movement to remove animal experiments brings an unusual alliance together together-left animal rights groups and right-wing fiscal conservatives who want to reduce the financing for science.

“Over 20 billion US dollars per year of taxpayers' money is still wasted annually with ineffective and inhumane tests on puppies, kittens and other animals,” said Justin Goodman, Senior Vice President of the White Coat Waste Project, which was founded by the conservative political consultant Anthony Bellotti.

“Animals don't take care of who they are right,” said Goodman. “They just want to stop being tortured in laboratories.”

In 2021, White Coat Waste Project Records used by the Freedom of Information Act to combine controversy overseas attempts with Beagles to the financing of the national institutes of allergy and infectious disease at the time by Dr. Anthony Fauci were led.

Research in Tunisia included healthy beagles sick sand flies to test a possible treatment that could protect both dogs and humans. Many of the dogs involved in the experiment were later put to sleep due to serious illness.

“Especially with the advent of Doge and the new administration that come in and search for ways to cut, it is something that everyone can combine,” said Goodman.

Microchips and Maggie

What's next:

Amy van Aartsen is part of a choir of voices that demand the closure of spreading glan farms. She is both Beagle lovers and a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While van Aartsen does not speak for the university, recent technology – including microchips that imitate human organs – could eliminate the need for animal research in the future. In the meantime, she focuses on freeing more than three thousand Beagles from Ridglan Farms – dogs that remind her of her own beagle at home.

“I see my Maggie,” said van Aartsen. “I see that she could have been.”

Tim Gruenke, public prosecutor of La Crosse, said he checked documents in the case, but cannot determine a schedule for an indictment decision.

The Veterinary Examination Board voted for the license of Dr. Van Domelen does not immediately complain, as requested by an investigator of the board. Instead, the board agreed that in the course of the disciplinary case, all operations on Ridglan Farms are only carried out by licensed veterinarians with proper anesthesia.

Fox6 researchers and animal sciences