A Major Dog Breeding Facility for Research Has Closed

Ridglan Farms, a Wisconsin facility that bred beagles for laboratory use, has permanently shut down. About 1,500 dogs from the facility have been transferred to rescue organizations, according to The Guardian.

Big Dog Ranch Rescue, which operates without cages and never euthanizes animals, took in hundreds of the beagles. The Center for a Humane Economy helped negotiate the deal that made the transfers happen.

Why Beagles?

For decades, pharmaceutical companies and research labs have used beagles as test animals. The breed is common in this role because beagles are calm, medium-sized, and predictable — qualities that make them practical for testing how new drugs work in a living body. Ridglan Farms was one of the main suppliers breeding dogs specifically for this purpose.

The facility's closure removes one piece from a long-established supply chain. Researchers who need test animals can still order from other breeders, so the demand for lab dogs has not disappeared.

The Negotiation Model

Rather than shut down through lengthy legal battles, Ridglan Farms' operator agreed to hand over the animals to rescues. The Center for a Humane Economy has used this same approach at other breeding facilities in recent years — combining public pressure, legal oversight, and direct talks with the operators until they agree to exit. This path is faster and often safer for the animals than waiting for regulators to force a closure.

The real question ahead is whether laboratories will stop using live animals for testing altogether. New technologies — lab-grown tissues, computer simulations, and artificial organ models — could eventually replace animal testing. The FDA changed its rules in 2022 to allow drug developers to skip animal tests if they use approved alternatives instead. So far, the shift has been slow.

A Large-Scale Rescue Challenge

Absorbing hundreds of research dogs at once is a major undertaking for any rescue organization. These beagles have been raised in laboratory conditions and have never lived in homes. They need training to become comfortable with normal domestic life — car rides, other pets, household sounds — before they can be adopted. Moving them all, getting them medical checkups, and finding them homes or foster families requires substantial resources, even for an experienced rescue.

The Ridglan closure adds another example to a growing playbook: negotiated shutdowns as a tool for animal welfare advocates. Whether the model will expand depends partly on whether these deals continue to move faster and deliver better outcomes than legal enforcement alone.