Ridglan Farms activists plan return amid increased security measures

DANE COUNTY, Wis. - Animal rights activists say they are planning another raid at Ridglan Farms later this month, prompting the controversial beagle breeder to increase security.

What we know:

Activists say they plan to return after nearly 100 volunteers removed 22 beagles from the facility last month. They say more than 2,000 people could take part in the next action.

"We've got a plan to go back to Ridglan Farms," said Wayne Hsiung of the Simple Heart Initiative.

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Ridglan Farms reached out to U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., asking for protection from what it described as "animal rights extremists."

"I don’t even know if this is real, to be honest," Pocan said. "I’ve been doing this now my 14th year, I’ve never had a company ask for security protection from Congress."

In October, a special prosecutor reached a deal allowing Ridglan Farms to avoid criminal animal cruelty charges if it agreed to sell off its remaining dogs and surrender its breeding license by July 1.

As of last month, Ridglan still had more than 2,000 dogs on site.

Drone video provided to FOX6 by the Coalition to Save the Ridglan Beagles shows new security measures, including a newly dug trench around the perimeter fence.

What they're saying:

In a letter Monday, Pocan urged Ridglan Farms to focus on rehoming dogs instead, saying "prioritizing the safe rehoming of every beagle possible."

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"Honestly, my bigger concern, as someone who’s part of a caucus that’s focused on animal rights in Congress, that what they’re doing breeding beagles for scientific experiments, is something that they already have a court order to quit doing, and they should probably focus on that court order," Pocan said. "In this case, Ridlgan has certainly slow walked it and are now facing potentially other situations."

Asked about a potential clash between activists and security, Pocan called it a lesson for the embattled breeder.

"Why are they playing games, I think is the question," Pocan said.

The other side:

In a statement, Ridglan Farms said it contacted Pocan to alert him to activist plans. The company also suggested Pocan review USDA inspection records, saying misinformation about the facility remains.

The full statement can be read below:

"Ridglan Farms reached out to Representative Pocan to ensure he was aware of plans by activists to once again break in and commit mass thefts at our facility, which is located in his district. As we told our representative, one of our primary concerns is the safety of residents in our small but close-knit farming community, who are growing increasingly frustrated with the continued harassment by individuals, some of whom have already committed similar break-ins and thefts in other states and have been found guilty. 

As for the seriousness of the threat, we encourage the representative to speak with local law enforcement, who have themselves been harassed as emergency phone lines have been inundated for several days at a time by activist call campaigns. 

In regard to the situation with our state and federal licenses, we hope the representative will consider looking further into the situation. As the record shows, our facility is not under any court order. Instead, a joint settlement was reached following an investigation that revealed misinformation conveyed by individuals who investigators say "lacked credibility." Under the settlement, Ridglan Farms will continue to engage in critical research that benefits pet animals across America and around the globe. 

We also hope the representative will take the time to review our well-documented and highly positive animal care history as determined by expert veterinarians employed by the federal government. These records are publicly available at the USDA website. Upon viewing those documents, hopefully he will understand that there is significant misinformation circulating about our facility, and that much of what he has heard, as evidenced in his response letter, may be erroneous."

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