Special counsel probes large Dane County dog research facility for abuse

Second in an occasional series

A special prosecutor is investigating one of the nation’s only remaining dog breeding and medical research facilities for animal cruelty after a Dane County judge found probable cause for criminal conduct.

In January, Dane County circuit judge Rhonda Lanford ordered the appointment of a special prosecutor to probe Ridglan Farms in Mt. Horeb, one of two remaining animal biomedical research complexes in the U.S., after years of alleged abuse of dogs.

Ridglan Farms, a 3,200-beagle breeding facility, has also been inspected by the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) and incurred multiple violations of state animal welfare standards, including those of animal health and veterinary care, behavior and socialization, ventilation, and drainage and water disposal.

After Lanford issued her order, she appealed to state attorney general Josh Kaul and to the state Department of Justice to help find a prosecutor. Kaul and the DOJ subsequently appointed La Crosse district attorney Tim Gruenke as the special prosecutor.

In her January 13 letter to Kaul, Lanford said six witnesses testified at a hearing last October — including two former employees of Ridglan Farms, two veterinarians, an animal behaviorist, and animal rights activist Wayne Hsiung — who alleged shocking examples of dog mutilation.

“The former employees described how during their time working for Ridglan, they were instructed to pry open dogs’ mouths and insert a device which held it open while another employee reached into their throat and mutilated their vocal cords with scissors, a procedure intended to prevent them from barking,” Lanford wrote. “The employees were also instructed to hold dogs down while another used scissors to cut growths off of dogs’ eyes. These employees testified they were not veterinarians, were not supervised by veterinarians, and the dogs were administered no pain management or anesthetic for either procedure.”

The two veterinarians testified that mutilating dogs’ vocal cords and eye tissue without any anesthesia was inconsistent with any normal and accepted veterinary practice, Lanford wrote.

“They also both stated Wisconsin’s administrative code governing veterinarians does not allow veterinarians to delegate ‘any procedure in which the skin or tissue is penetrated or severed’ to persons without a veterinary license,” she wrote.

For his part, Lanford wrote, Hsiung produced copies of inspection reports he requested from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Wisconsin’s DATCP, which showed citations to Ridglan for housing dogs improperly, failing to notice dogs were injured, and improper ventilation. 

“One DATCP inspector noted ‘the ammonia/odor level in several locations within the buildings was bad enough I experienced nausea on one occasion, and my throat and nostrils were irritated for several hours after I left the facility,’” Lanford wrote.

The special prosecutor’s probe is currently ongoing. The petition was brought by animal rights activist Wayne Hsiung, Dane4Dogs, and Alliance for Animals.

So far, Ridglan Farms has refused to respond to most media requests for comment. However, on February 26, News 3 Now and channel3000.com posted a statement purportedly from Ridglan Farms’ legal counsel. The posted statement was unsigned and undated, however, and bore no official company or attorney letterhead.

Nonetheless, the statement proclaimed the company’s innocence.

“First, Ridglan Farms has been operating lawfully for decades,” the statement read. “Ridglan Farms breeds and sells dogs for use in medical research. Most of the research done with Ridglan Farms’ animals is for new and better veterinary products that benefit your pet dogs. Its activities are subject to extensive federal and state regulations administered on the federal side by USDA and on the state side by DATCP. Ridglan Farms possesses both federal and state licenses that allow it to lawfully operate.”

The statement also claimed that Ridglan was denied the right to participate in the hearing and in all prior proceedings that gave rise to the Dane County judge’s decision allowing the matter to proceed. 

“In other words, Ridglan Farms has been denied fundamental due process, which is at the heart of the American legal system,” the document stated.

It should be noted, if criminal charges are brought, the company would get its day in court.

The specific details

In the court order, Lanford said petitioners submitted multiple DATCP reports dating from October 2016 in which Ridglan was cited for various violations and directed to make changes in how its animals were housed and cared for. The most recent DATCP report last September, the judge wrote, was created during a follow-up inspection necessitated by Ridglan’s ongoing unaddressed violations, and the report itself noted still more violations.

Two conditions must exist to enable the court to permit a criminal complaint to be filed under the state’s animal cruelty laws, the judge wrote.

One is a refusal to prosecute by the local district attorney, in this case the Dane County district attorney. Second, Lanford wrote, the court must find that there is probable cause to believe Ridglan Farms committed criminal offenses.

On the latter criteria, the judge found plenty of probable cause, at least enough to order a special prosecutor, after analyzing the evidence presented at an October 23 evidentiary hearing, both for treating dogs in its care in a cruel manner — meaning “causing unnecessary and excessive pain or suffering or unjustifiable injury or death” — and for failing to provide proper shelter.

“Petitioners presented evidence sufficient to satisfy this court that probable cause exists that Ridglan committed a felony by using two specific regularly conducted practices at Ridglan: the mutilation of so-called ‘cherry eyes,’ and the mutilation of dogs’ vocal cords,” the judge stated.

For example, Lanford wrote, Ridglan former employee Scott Gilbertson testified that he participated in so-called “cherry eye” removal as part of his employment duties. 

“He stated he was instructed to hold dogs down while another Ridglan employee, Leah Staley, cut off a gland protruding from the corner of the dog’s eye,” the judge wrote. “Gilbertson testified this was done without administering any kind of anesthesia or pain medication, and nothing was done to control the bleeding that would result, despite the dog bleeding to a degree that produced a ‘pretty good size puddle’ on the floor.”

The dogs were obviously in extreme pain, according to the testimony.

“Mr. Gilbertson also testified that during this procedure the dogs ‘would be thrashing around in pain, often yelping, crying out. Then we just put them back in the cage,’” the judge wrote, quoting Gilbertson.

The employees performing those surgeries were not licensed veterinarians, Lanford observed. 

“Matthew Reich, another employee of Ridglan from 2006-2010, testified that he also held down dogs while other Ridglan employees, Jim Hiltbrandt or Al Olson, cut off their eye glands, also without any anesthesia, pain medication or blood control,” the judge wrote. “Reich testified the dog’s eyes ‘would bleed profusely for several minutes. Sometimes it would start pouring onto my hand before I even let go of the dog,’ and the dog would usually ‘go to the side of the cage where their neighbor was and the other dog would lick the blood off them. It was a very graphic scene.’”

Lanford also cited the testimony of Dr. Sherstin Rosenberg, a licensed veterinarian, who testified that the removal of the “cherry eye” as conducted by Ridglan’s employees, without anesthesia, blood control, or aftercare, subjects the dogs to significant pain because the eye is a highly sensitive organ.

“Matthew Reich also testified that he witnessed Ridglan employees mutilate dogs’ vocal cords in order to prevent them from barking at full volume,” the judge wrote. “Reich testified he observed the dogs be administered a paralytic agent which rendered them unable to move, but they were not given any anesthesia or pain medication. The dogs’ mouths were then pried open and held in place by a contraption, and a Ridglan employee would then reach down their throat with a sharp tool and sever the flaps in the back of their throat.”

Reich testified he saw this procedure conducted for 30 to 40 dogs at a time on a monthly basis, Lanford stated.

“Dr. Rosenberg also testified this mutilation of dogs’ vocal flaps, as conducted by Ridglan, was a painful and risky procedure which caused unnecessary and excessive pain and suffering to the dogs,” she wrote.

In addition to not being licensed veterinarians, Lanford wrote that none of the employees Gilbertson and Reich observed mutilating dogs’ eye glands and vocal flaps were veterinarians, either.

“Dr. Lowell Wickman, a Wisconsin based and licensed veterinarian, testified these acts violated accepted veterinary practices, because ‘[p]erforming surgery, which means any procedure in which the skin or tissue of the patient is penetrated or severed…may not be delegated to or performed by veterinary technicians or other persons not holding’ a veterinary license,” the judge wrote. “Dr. Rosenberg also testified that even if the procedures described were done by a veterinarian, a failure to use anesthesia, blood control, or aftercare is completely inconsistent with normal and accepted veterinary practices.”

Based on such evidence, Lanford found probable cause that Ridglan, through its employees, committed a felony violation of the animal cruelty statutes by having caused “unnecessary and excessive pain or suffering” by mutilating dogs’ eye glands and vocal flaps, and that their actions were not within “normal and accepted veterinary practices,” constituting a Class I felony.

Cramped quarters

Lanford also found probable cause that Ridglan failed to provide proper shelter for the dogs, including a failure to provide a required minimum amount of space, proper sanitation standards, and adequate ventilation, as well as failure to prohibit enclosure structures that cause injury to animals enclosed within them.

As to space requirements, Reich testified that, while he was employed by Ridglan from 2006 to 2010, he saw a variety of abnormal behaviors on a daily basis, including dogs fighting, pacing, and spinning endlessly in their cages, Lanford wrote. 

“Ridglan did not separate the dogs who were fighting,” the judge wrote. “Reich testified that he once saw the aftermath of an especially violent fight — while checking cages containing groups of dogs, he observed one was lying on its side apparently deceased. When he attempted to take hold of the dog’s body to remove it from the cage, his hand passed through the dog’s chest and into the body cavity — the other dogs had apparently devoured a portion of the dog’s innards.”

Lanford also cited a DATCP inspection report from October 26, 2016, which observed that “[a] number of adult dogs in the facility were displaying prominent stereotypical behaviors; such as: circling, pacing, and wall bouncing. . . . Efforts should be taken to address dog’s abnormal, stereotypical behaviors. Such behaviors are an indicator of the dog’s welfare.”

Hsiung also testified about the abnormal behaviors he observed when he personally visited Ridglan’s facility in 2017, the judge wrote, presenting at the hearing video documentation of what he had observed. 

In the videos, dogs could be seen spinning in circles, pacing, and barking continuously. What’s more, Lanford continued, Gilbertson, who worked at Ridglan in January of 2022, testified he saw hundreds of dogs housed in solitary confinement. 

“Gilbertson observed the dogs were never taken out of the cages or allowed any access to the outdoors,” the judge wrote. “Gilbertson also testified that he saw a variety of abnormal behaviors on a daily basis, including dogs fighting and spinning endlessly in their cages. Ridglan did not separate the dogs who were fighting.”

Sanitation standards were inhumanely below par, Lanford said of the evidence presented.

“Gilbertson testified that in January of 2022, he regularly witnessed the buildup of feces in the dogs’ cages,” the judge wrote. “Gilbertson also testified he was directed by Ridglan to clean hundreds of cages by himself, which proved to be a near-impossible task.”

Lanford said a DATCP inspection report from June 6, 2024, noted there were several buildings within the facility where no drainage systems were constructed or operated so that animal waste could be rapidly eliminated. The follow up DATCP inspection report from September 16, 2024, found that the problems remained, Lanford observed.

Rosenberg also testified that pictures of fecal buildup — including decomposing feces — showed that the feces had not been removed for days, Lanford wrote. 

“Dr. Rosenberg concluded that Ridglan’s sanitation protocols were inadequate and posed a health risk to the dogs,” the judge wrote. “Again, the DATCP reports and their accompanying photographs serve as strong evidence that Ridglan was made aware multiple times that its sanitation practices fell below the legally required standards, and that the conditions persisted as of September 2024. This demonstrates Ridglan’s lack of sufficient sanitation practices is intentional, or at the very least demonstrate a negligent disregard for the lawful standard of care for its animals.”

Ventilation standards did not measure up, either, the order says the evidence shows.

“Dr. Rosenberg testified that high ammonia levels — like the ones described in DATCP inspection reports — raise blood ammonia levels and thus cause nausea in the dogs,” the order states. “Gaseous ammonia injures the mucus lining of the dogs’ airways and can cause tissue to die. This cell death can cause extreme discomfort and pain, and impair long-term lung functioning.”

The testimony and evidence demonstrates the ventilation of Ridglan’s housing has been noted by both former employees and DATCP inspectors as inadequate, and remained inadequate as of September 2024: “This demonstrates Ridglan’s ventilation system, or lack thereof, is an intentional choice, or at the very least demonstrates a negligent disregard for the lawful standard of care for its animals,” the judge wrote.

Finally, Lanford wrote, animal enclosures were dangerous.

“Evidence showed the floor of Ridglan’s kennels to be constructed of a wire mesh coated with a hard plastic or rubber,” she wrote. “Urine and feces passed through the mesh into a drip pan or the floor, where it was theoretically supposed to then travel down a drain and be emptied into a lagoon outdoors.”

Lanford said petitioners presented evidence that the constant confinement on the wire mesh floor caused the dogs to develop sores on their feet. 

“Reich testified during his employment at Ridglan from 2006 to 2010, he saw dogs with large blisters or ulcers — sometimes the size of golf balls — between their toes on a daily basis,” she wrote. “In his five-year tenure with Ridglan, he never saw anyone remove or replace a cage.”

A 2016 DATCP inspection report from October 26, 2016, noted that “puppies’ feet and legs were passing through the gaps in the flooring,” Lanford wrote.

“Gilbertson, who worked for Ridglan in January 2022, testified that the flooring in the cages was wire flooring with rust in some spots,” she wrote. “He also testified that he saw dogs with inflamed feet or lying down for long periods of time to relieve pressure on their feet on a daily basis. He was not aware of Ridglan ever changing their flooring to alleviate these foot issues.”

Lack of prosecution

Lanford directed the order for a special prosecutor after finding that the Dane County prosecutor refused or was unable to issue a complaint against Ridglan Farms, despite being repeatedly presented with the evidence.

“At the evidentiary hearing held October 23, attorney Hsiung testified that since May of 2018 he has contacted the Dane County district attorney’s office and provided video and documentary evidence of the conditions at Ridglan at least seven separate times, including during an in-person meeting with district attorney Ozanne on April 18, 2024,” she wrote. “This evidence included multiple reports from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) documenting conditions at Ridglan beginning in October 2016 through September of 2024, each time noting aspects of Ridglan’s facilities that fell below the standards required by law. Hsiung also testified that a

public records request revealed the district attorney’s office had received 983 separate emails requesting an investigation of Ridglan.”

District attorney Ozanne has also been present at two of the preliminary court hearings in this matter, Lanford observed. 

“Neither he nor any members of his office attended the evidentiary hearing,” she wrote. “While district attorney Ozanne stated at a September 12, 2024 hearing that he did not believe his office had refused to prosecute, this court is not bound by the district attorney’s own assessment of his actions.”

Instead, Lanford wrote, as Kalal instructs, the court draws reasonable inferences from district attorney Ozanne’s conduct over the past six years. 

“The evidence shows district attorney Ozanne and his office failed to take any action with regard to the allegations made against Ridglan, despite the petitioner’s video and photographic proof and multiple reports from state and federal agencies documenting Ridglan’s abuse,” she wrote.

On that basis, Lanford concluded, the court found that Ozanne and his office had refused to issue a complaint.

Richard Moore is the author of “Dark State” and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.