Thousands of beagles bred for research get a new life as questions mount over federal oversight
2,000 Beagles Find New Homes as Oversight Questions Linger Over Wisconsin Breeder
Wertynews.com – The last cohort of 155 beagles from Ridglan Farms — a Wisconsin operation that produced dogs for biomedical laboratories — has been transferred to Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Florida. Their departure closes out a months-long relocation campaign that saw more than 2,000 dogs leave the facility over the course of this year.
Lauree Simmons, founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue, coordinated the effort alongside other rescue organizations. Speaking about why researchers favor the breed, she offered a pointed observation:
"They choose beagles because they're easy to handle and they're so forgiving. You hurt them one day and they're going to forgive you the next and let you do it all over again. This is inhumane."
"For me, it's never enough until animal cruelty ends," Simmons said. "I'll do this till the day I die."
A Stark Gap Between State and Federal Findings
While the rescues have moved forward, a CBS News investigation uncovered a troubling divergence in how state and federal regulators assessed conditions at Ridglan. Wisconsin's Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection examined the facility between 2024 and 2025 and logged 494 violations, several involving the manner in which dogs were handled.
In January 2025, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Rhonda Lanford determined there was probable cause to believe Ridglan had committed offenses under Wisconsin animal-cruelty statutes and assigned a special prosecutor to pursue the matter. The facility ultimately reached a settlement that spared it criminal charges but required it to surrender its state license for selling dogs last month.
Federal records tell a markedly different story. USDA inspection files reviewed by CBS News show that over the preceding decade, federal inspectors cited just four violations at the breeding operation and two at the associated research site — none flagged as critical.
Rep. Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat, reacted to the discrepancy:
"To me that doesn't make any sense," Pocan told CBS News. "When you have that amount of state violations, clearly that stood out."
Ridglan's Position
The company disputes every allegation of mistreatment, asserting it has a "well documented history of exemplary animal care." It pointed to the USDA as the "leading authority … that ensures animals involved in biomedical research are well cared for under strict federal guidelines" and emphasized that federal inspectors identified only non-critical issues on-site.
Decades of Inspector General Concerns
The USDA's own inspector general has raised alarms about oversight of commercial dog breeders for roughly three decades. A 2025 audit identified systemic problems in the agency's inspection framework and concluded that "inconsistent and untimely inspections may have contributed to the dog breeders' continued violation of AWA [Animal Welfare Act] requirements."
In response to CBS News questions, the USDA stated it collaborates with state officials "to maximize enforcement outcomes" and has taken "swift and meaningful steps to strengthen oversight," including carrying out the inspector general's most recent recommendations.
The Broader Question: Animals in Medical Research
The Ridglan episode unfolds amid a federal push to expand alternatives to animal testing. Yet USDA data indicate that more than 37,000 dogs were still used in U.S. research last year, and many scientists maintain that living organisms remain indispensable to certain lines of inquiry.
Larry Carbone, a former veterinarian who spent decades tending animals inside research laboratories, acknowledged the growing role of human cells and tissues while cautioning that those tools cannot always reproduce how a drug or pathology behaves across an entire organism.
"Cancer was mostly a death sentence," Carbone said. "Now most of us know people who are taking HIV meds or HIV preventions, who are living with cancers or living post-cancer — all from things that were developed using animals."
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