Opening: The Facility

Ridglan Farms

Ridglan Farms is a Class A USDA-licensed dog breeding facility located in rural Dane County, Wisconsin. As of September 2024, it houses approximately 3,200 dogs — almost exclusively beagles — and employs approximately 16 full-time staff, not including the manager and lead veterinarian.

Beagles are the breed of choice for animal testing worldwide. Their docile temperament, uniform size, and genetic consistency make them the industry standard for pharmaceutical, chemical, and biomedical research. Ridglan breeds them for this purpose.

The facility consists of multiple buildings where dogs are housed in wire mesh cages, often stacked. Dogs are confined singly. They are never taken on walks, never let outside, and never removed from their cages except to be transferred to a different cage — or shipped to a laboratory.

Three of the sixteen employees' duties primarily consist of dog socialization. Assuming these employees work 40-hour weeks with no breaks or other tasks, that averages out to a little more than two minutes per dog per week.

This is the starting point. What follows is the evidence of what happens inside.