05/15/2026
Ridglan Farms can still legally keep dogs because of a combination of licensing rules, settlement terms, and exemptions in animal-research law.
After doing some research, here’s how it stands now:
—Ridglan agreed to give up its Wisconsin commercial dog-breeding license by July 1, 2026, as part of a settlement intended to avoid criminal prosecution over alleged animal welfare violations (Animal Welfare Institute).
—The agreement did not completely shut the facility down, it specifically allowed the company to continue operating as a research facility and to keep dogs for in-house research (CBS 58).
—The facility still holds federal licenses through the United States Department of Agriculture, including a USDA Class A breeder license and a research license. Those federal licenses currently allow possession and use of dogs under the federal Animal Welfare Act framework (danesheriff.com).
Wisconsin animal-cruelty law contains exemptions for approved research activity. Dane County officials publicly stated that the statute does not apply to “teaching, research, or experimentation” conducted under approved research protocols (danesheriff.com).
This may lead to:
The state stopping commercial breeding-for-sale operations, BUT the company may still legally keep and breed some dogs for research conducted internally.
Additionally, there are differences between state and federal oversight:
—Wisconsin regulators documented hundreds of alleged state violations, according to reporting and advocacy groups (Animal Welfare Institute).
—USDA inspection history publicly reported relatively few federal violations (Animal Welfare Institute).
Finally, federal licenses have not automatically been revoked. Some lawmakers, including Mark Pocan, are now pushing for federal review of facilities that lost or surrendered state breeder licenses. (Mark Pocan).
To summarize:
1. Ridglan Farms continues to operate as a research facility under state.
2. The settlement only required surrender of the state breeding-for-sale license.
3. Federal USDA licenses remain active.
4. Research facilities receive special legal exemptions under current law.
Please remember that research on animals takes place all over the state of Wisconsin, all over the world. Universities, including UW-Madison, are funded to perform painful research on animals (Madeline Krasno was a former UW-Madison student who reported the abuse of monkeys in the lab back in 2011-2013).
Laws need to change.
Thank you for keeping the conversations active!
PLEASE continue to support your local animal rescue so they can be ready to assist again ♥️
