Beagles Are STILL Being Tortured Under RFK Jr. and Trump's Watch

All right, so let's go ahead and pick things up with my first story. This is a brand new just released today as I'm recording this article over at Last American Vagabond. The last American vagabond.com hopefully you guys know I write articles there. I've been writing articles of the Last American Vagabond next month starting in May, for six years now, which is kind of crazy to think about. Animal activist arrested attempting to rescue tortured beagles while RFK Jr claims ignorance. And you can see from these photos right here on the screen, this is kind of a montage of some photos that we found that were taken by a local or a photographer who is there at the scene. You can see activists here being pepper sprayed, shot with rubber bullets, trying to break into these fences and go rescue these beagles. Now, let's give you a little bit of lowdown. As always, I'm just going to give you the short version. I hope you guys will read the article because I spent quite a few hours putting this together and it'll give you a nice breakdown of the situation. But as I said, you probably saw the videos this weekend. If you didn't, here's a little sample of them. Let me go ahead and show you this. This is at Ridgeland Farms in Wisconsin where hundreds of activists, some say up to a thousand, is. The reports I was seeing were on the scene trying to free 2000 beagles from the Ridgeland Farms facility in Wisconsin. And Ridgeland Farms is a USDA licensed dog breeder and seller as well as, you know, basically they, they can do tests on the dogs. And this is just a short clip. Like I said, there's lots of video and pictures that will pull up in just a moment. And this, you know, this issue matters not only to those of us who are animal activists, as I do consider myself, or those who just love dogs, which probably most people do, but to people who care about accountability because this was one of the major issues that Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Said they were going to end. You guys, remember there was the big beagle gate scandal under Fauci, Anthony Fauc, and this was something that many people were disgusted by. They're using beagles, one of the most beloved American dogs that are known for being docile. In fact, that's the reason they're chosen for these experiments. And they are using them to test them for fruit flies and all kinds of different things. And it really sickened a lot of people. And as I said, it became known as beagle Gate. So this facility, Ridgeland Farms, though, has been under fire since at least 2017. And we'll get into that in a moment. But most recently, activists have been trying to go in there to free as many of these dogs as possible. They went in March about a month ago and they did free 30 dogs somewhere, 27 to 30 dogs. And they were rehomed and adopted by people. Now the people who are involved in that, they're being charged with trespassing and criminal burglary and all kinds of things. So the activists were prepared to go there and come back in stronger numbers. In fact, the protest was planned for Sunday, yesterday, April 19th. But. But they, at the last minute, the activist and the organizer, Wayne Sung, who you can see here is on Twitter, waves of tear gas, peaceful animal lovers are being tear gas pepper sprayed and fired at with rubber bullets at Ridgeland Farms. At least a dozen activists have been arrested. Hundreds of others are on the property now trying to rescue the dogs. They decided they were going to kind of switch it up and do a last minute change and go on Saturday, early Saturday. And the police were prepared for them. I mean, they kind of promoted it online and I think that might have been a mistake. I get that this is really good PR for them, but if your goal is truly to try to free the animals, you probably want to be a little bit more secret about it, but we'll see how it goes. Nevertheless, when Wayne Sung arrived on the property, he was very quickly arrested again. He is a co founder of the organization Direct Action Everywhere. He was an organizer of the Ridgeland Farms action. He's also an attorney and he was attempting to serve Ridgeland with a lawsuit when he was arrested by Dane County Sheriff's Office deputies. Pretty much as soon as he walked on the scene, as you can see here in this picture right here on the screen, he walked up and he had his papers in hand, trying to serve the papers. And as you can see, this comment says, somebody says that's not how you sue a company or person. Good idea to get press. Great press, though. Yeah, it is. Like I said, this is probably more of a PR move, but it's kind of messed up that as soon as he showed up, they arrested him. And as I put in the article here, these cops said that they arrested him because he was suspected of conspiracy to commit burglary, basically because he was the organizer. And they're like, look, you're showing up here with a bunch of activists, you're encouraging them, so you're gonna be charged with conspiracy to commit burglary. Now, one of my friends who I met a few months back, animal rights activist Jamie Logan, she was at the farm that morning. She described the scene as, quote, the best and the worst of humanity. She wrote on Instagram, I saw compassion met with extreme violence. Peaceful protesters met tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets. I saw people show up with courage, love, and nothing but a commitment to peaceful change for the puppies at Ridgeland Farms who are criminally abused. And this is a picture you can see here. Again, the photos were taken by Yash Mangalik. Mangalik, who is a young student photographer who does a great job and just captured these photos. So thank you or using them for the article. And then after this, the arrest of Wayne Song and, you know, pepper spraying and the rubber bullets, the Dane County Sheriff's office, they start posting their own version of events on Facebook. And they wrote, as hundreds attempted to break through barriers and fencing on the farm, others blocked the roadways to slow the response of law enforcement and other emergency personnel. The dcso, the sheriff's office said that protesters who showed, quote, clear intent to break into the facility were pepper sprayed with tear gas. And those who refused to de escalate were then shot with less than lethal 40 millimeter munitions and pepper balls. And those things hurt. I've been hit by them before. They also claim that one protester drove a vehicle through a fence and was arrested. The sheriff's office posted photos of what they called burglary tools which were recovered from activists, including saws, fence cutters and sledgehammers. And yeah, like I said, some of the most ardent, some would say extreme activists there definitely showed up and they were planning on cutting the fences down and going in there and trying to free the dogs and that, that's, you know, that's where how strongly a lot of people feel about this. They said, as I mentioned, that Wayne Song was arrested on probable cause for conspiracy to commit burglary for his role in planning to attempt the rescue of the Beagles. And Dane County Sheriff Calvin Barrett said, quote, it was clear from the beginning that this was not going to be a peaceful protest. The sheriff's office response to the active break in attempts by hundreds of protesters was appropriate and proportionate to the behaviors observed. Now, whether you trust that or not, I guess is matter of personal opinion. I think it's bullshit. But at the same time, this is how things go, guys. Nobody should really be surprised. I mean, this is how the system operates, right? So when people want to, you know, try to stand up against injustice, whether it's for animals or whether it's for, you know, say against this. Because I was at Standing Rock. That's why it's coming to my mind. Standing Rock situation, a decade ago, 2016. You know, you might feel as an activist, as an individual, as a human being, that you're completely in the right and morality is on your side, but the law is against you. Well, guess what, guys? That's all the cops do. They defend the law, they defend the state. And this is why many people, anarchists, are against cops. Because yes, you can point out some good apples of things that cops do. They help little grandmas across the street or they rescue people in certain situations. And that's all well and good, but when push comes to shove, the police are the defenders, the enforcement arm of the state. And that's what they always are going to be. So they're just going to be order followers. That's what they'll do is. I'm sorry, I'm just following my orders. I love dogs too, guys, but I gotta follow my orders. So Bump, beat you over the head because they don't have thinkers. As John Trudell said in the past, they don't have great thinkers. They just have doers. They have listeners. They have followers. That's what they do. So, you know, maybe you should reconsider blind support and obedience for the police when it comes to situations like this. Nevertheless, I digress and let's continue. All right, so this part is a history of Ridgeland Farms. Again, I'm not going to read the whole thing here, but suffice it to say that this place has been under the watch of activists and the law in Wisconsin for some time. Back in April 2017, activists entered the facility and they captured graphic video depicting the Beagles living conditions at Ridgeland Farms. Afterward, Wayne Sung, the attorney who was arrested Dane for Dogs and the alliance for Animals, filed a petition under Wisconsin law seeking the appointment of a special prosecutor, which in fact I learned in the reporting for this article. That is a specific thing under Wisconsin Johnson law that allows people to do that where they can. If you can file a petition and prove in the court that the district attorney should be filing charges and has failed to file charges, then they will appoint a special prosecutor to do an investigation. So that's what they. They did in 2017, and they actually succeeded. And so it all the way back, all the way up to October 2024. The animal rights activists presented their case at an evidentiary hearing in Dane County Circuit Court and It's at that hearing where they showed videos from inside the facility where people were able to sneak in, said, get footage of the dogs and how they were actually living. They had videos, they had witness testimony from former employees of Ridgeland Farms. One former employee, a man named Scott Gilbertson, who worked at the farm and the facility in 2021 and 2022, he said that he witnessed near daily surgeries conducted without anesthesia. So this was a big concern. People are calling it vivisection, which, as you guys know, is this sort of ancient and barbaric practice that used to be pretty common of cutting open animals without anesthesia. Guess what, guys? It didn't stop in the 1900s. And the 20th, you know, 20th century is still going on. Proving these claims would show being able to prove this would show that Ridgeland Farms violated state laws, Wisconsin state laws, which prohibit animal mistreatment and require adequate shelter. So April 17, they get in the building, they document what's going on. October 2024, they get an evidentiary hearing. They present their evidence. Then by January 2025, just over a year ago, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Rhonda Lanford, she actually did appoint a special prose saying that, quote, the activists had established probable cause to believe that Ridgeland has committed crimes under Wisconsin's animal cruelty laws and that the district attorney has failed to issue a complaint or commence an investigation. So they were actually successful. That led to the appointment of a special prosecutor. In February 2025. They appointed LA Crosse County District Attorney Tim Groinke Greinke, who was, as I said, special prosecutor. So he reviewed all the documents, all the testimony and everything, and different information from the Wisconsin Department of Agricult, Trade and Consumer Protection. And he eventually released a report, and he identified five potential areas for charges that they could bring against Ridgeland that include these so called cherry eye procedures, devocalization procedures, proper shelter and space requirements, sanitation standards, and improper enclosures causing serious injuries. The report concluded that most claims lack strong evidence. He said, for example, that the reports of devocalization, which is where they literally are cutting out the vocal cords of the dogs that the witness had witnessed. Witnesses had credibility issues. And that only, quote, only eyewitness evidence of devocalization was from a former employee who left in 2010. So this is more than 15 years ago. And they found no records, witnesses, or inspections indicating that devocalization procedures were done within the last six years. Maybe they were and they destroyed records. Who knows? But nevertheless, the special prosecutor found the strongest evidence were violations relating to these cherry eye Procedures which involves removing a part of a swollen or prolapsed eye gland, the tear gland, from the dog, and they're doing so. So again without anesthesia. The report concluded Ridgeland Farms routinely allowed non veterinarians to conduct the surgery. They did not use general anesthesia, which resulted in pain to the animals and potential aftercare pain. Unlike other claims, the procedures were done well within the statute of limitations. The vet board and the DATCP determined that the way Ridgeland Farms personnel did the cherry eye procedure did not meet current standards of veterinary care in Wisconsin. The records proved by, provided by Ridgeland Farms themselves showed proof of these occurrences. And the special prosecutor concluded this procedure was in fact animal mistreatment as defined under the statute, and thus could be charged. So to recap, activists in 2017 go into this facility. They capture undercover video. They file for the appointment of a special prosecutor through a petition. They are successful with this. In 2024, they start presenting actual evidence in court in a hearing. January 2025, a special prosecutor is appointed. February, he begins his investigation. He releases the report, the investigation in October 2025. So just, you know, not too far back recently, and finds that they were illegally violating Wisconsin statues and statutes and doing these procedures, these cherry eye procedures, without anesthesia, without proper medical care, and in some cases, without even actual veterinarians, and that this could be charged. But wait, there's more, unfortunately. Well, before we get to the unfortunately, let me also mention that this lines up with other data points that we have. For example, the Wisconsin Veterinary Licensing Board was already investigating veterinarians employed by Ridgeland Farms in connection with these cherry eye procedures. The board ordered the emergency suspension of the lead veterinarian and facility manager at Ridgeland Farms, a Dr. Rick von Domelent. A judge upheld that decision in September 2025. So the lead veterinarian and facility manager, he got his license suspended for doing these same things. So when the special prosecutor is investigating, he's like, look, there's definitely evidence for that. But wait, he writes in his report that, quote, Ridgeland Farms made clear that they would argue that because they conduct research and that all of the dogs being bred would also be for research purposes, that the Wisconsin statutes do not apply to them. Basically, if you're doing research, it's kind of a get out of jail free card to abuse animals. And in the end, the special prosecutor in Ridgeland Farms reached a settlement whereby Ridgeland agreed to shut down its dog sale and breeding for sale operations and surrender its state breeding license by July 1, 2025. Excuse me, I suppose, 2026, I'll fix that. Of this year, 2026, in exchange for no prosecution. And of course, they continue to deny that any abuse or neglect actually happened. So they have a deadline coming up here. What is April? So May, June, July, they got like three months and they're supposed to shut down this facility. And here's the messed up part. The agreement states, quote, the state of Wisconsin agrees that all alleged civil and criminal violations referred to and contemplated by Judge Rhonda Lanford's referral will not be brought against Ridgeland Farms and are forever barred from being brought in a criminal or civil action. So they don't have to admit any wrongdoing, they can't be charged now or anytime into the future, and they basically just have to give up a license. That's it. There's not any major repercussions for them, even though this special prosecutor's report found that they were absolutely committing, you know, animal abuse and violating these statutes. And for the final section, my friends, HHS Secretary Kennedy feigns ignorance only just a couple of days before this, before the activists went to Ridgeland Farms, Wisconsin Representative Mark Pocon questioned or Pokin questioned HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. About the treatment of the beagles at the facility during a House Appropriations Committee hearing. He said that, you know, this July 1st deadline was going to come up and that if the dogs are not rehoused or taken care of, they will be euthanized. So I actually do have that clip of that exchange and we're going to go ahead and play that real quick.

I just have one last one because in my district, we have something called Ridgeland Farms, that's a beagle breeder for research. They've had 311 code violations, including very serious harm to the health of dogs. The head of nih, which you can ask. I said some of the nicest things about I really like your head of the nih, that you have said that there's a policy about beagle testing that would not allow animals to be tortured. And that's part of what's happening with this facility. So grants are still in the last month going to groups that are getting beagles from Ridgeland Farms. Could you please take a look at this? Because they are under right now, not a court order, a settlement to close down part of their breeding facility by July 1st. But they're not getting rid of the 2,000 beagles they have. And if they don't, we know what's going to happen. They're going to get euthanized. And I just want to make sure that for that commitment, which is a good commitment, not to harm the beagles. Right now, you're still giving money to groups through the NIH that are using beagles from this highly questionable farm.

I have a hard time. I believe you, but I have a hard time believing that I, I need to look into this. I would appreciate the office because we're trying to end, we've done more than any other administration history to end animal testing. And in fact, in this year's budget, there's a $25 million budget request that will allow us to attend. We've ended most of it. There's a few things that are going on, mainly veterinary, where you have to use animals, but that what you're describing should not be happening.

And I'll be glad to share these with you so you have them. And then if we could have that follow up, I really would appreciate it.

I will. And again, I'm going to give you Ken Callahan's number. And I really appreciate it. We will get back to you.

Thank you.

So there you have it. That was RFK Jr. At the recent House Appropriations Committee where he was confronted by Wisconsin Representative Mark Polkin. And again he brings up that the Ridgeland Farms has 311 violations, including serious harm to the health of dogs. And Kennedy says, you know, I have a hard time, I believe you, but I'm having a hard time believing that I'll look into this. And he says that the Trump administration has done more than any other administration in history to end animal testing. After this. Mark Polkin posted on Twitter, quote, In my district, a beagle breeding facility called Ridgeland Farms has hundreds of code violations, including serious harm to the health of dogs. Yet the NIH is still, still giving funding to groups that use beagles from this facility. I urged Secretary Kennedy to stop this practice. Now, let's give credit where credit's due. For a moment, Kennedy is correct that the Trump administration has taken steps to reduce animal testing. The NIH announced plans to establish the Office of Research Innovation, Validation and Application ORVA to coordinate NIH wide efforts to develop the use of non animal approaches for biomedical research.

Great.

That happened last year. People are celebrating it. Then in the same month, April 2025, the US FDA Food and Drug Administration announced that it was going to replace animal testing and the development of monoclonal antibody therapies with, quote, more effective human relevant methods. The FDA simultaneously released a roadmap for reducing animal testing and preclinical safety. Studies and they recently celebrated one year of implementing policy changes to reduce animal testing. So great, they are trying to do certain steps. Fda, NIH things are happening. We'll see where they actually go, or if it's just more lip service or just kind of window dressing. However, it is absolutely true that the NIH continues to fund these programs and that there are certain institutions which are funded by taxpayer dollars which are buying beagles from Ridgeland Farms. And so Justin Goodman, who's the senior Vice president of the White Coast. Wait, White Coat Waste Project says that Kennedy took off. Since Kennedy took office, more than 1,126 million and new funding has been awarded to facilities that experiment on dogs and cats. Goodman wrote, quote, starting over a year ago, at their request, we provided Kennedy and NIH Director Bhattacharya's teams with info on taxpayer funded grants paying for cat and dog testing, including FAUCI approved experiments on Ridgeland beagles. Instead of shutting down the labs and retiring the survivors, the NIH gave the labs. We identified more money. RFK literally lied to Congress about it this week. He continued, since day one of RFK's tenure, he has had the authority to cut funding for these grants overnight. He even admitted this. But instead, he has kept them alive. And I go in here to just document more proof of this. How the White Coat Waste Project had obtained documents through open records requests showing that beagles from Ridgeland Farms continue to be used in NIH funded experiments, including tick bite studies at the University of Missouri, which was originally approved under fauci, but it continues under the Trump administration and other funding sources, including the Department of the Interior, National Science foundation, the Department of Agriculture. Involved universities include the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, Colorado State University, University of Georgia, Kansas State University, and Texas A and M University. So all those universities are involved in experiments that relate to dogs coming from bridges and farms. And while these experiments are not specifically related to the original Beagle Gate scandals that were exposed Under Fauci in 2021, the continuation of these experiments is definitely getting, you know, RFK some criticism from the MAHA movement, especially because, guys, you can't forget that it is RFK himself who wrote the book, the Real Anthony Fauci. And he explicitly has spoke against Beagle Gate in his book and elsewhere and claimed he would put an end to these experiments as of the Trump administration. But as the White Coat Waste Project has shown, these tests continue on dogs, cats, primates and other animals, including ones that were first funded by Fauci. And so to raise awareness of this the White Coat Waste Project recently launched a national WTF RFK ad campaign targeting Kennedy for continuing these Fauci era animal labs. Now, I did reach out for a comment from the hhs, the NIH and the usda, all the agencies involved in this and the only ones that got back to me were the hhs, actually, which thank you for that. They told me, quote, that Ridgeland does not receive NIH grants or funding and that the NAIH enforces strict policies to protect animal welfare and maintain rigorous oversight as the agency works to reduce reliance on animal models over time. So that's what happened this weekend, guys. And I Like I said, you'll probably be seeing the videos go viral. But if you want to help people understand the real situation and what was going on behind the scenes, don't just give them the New York Times article or some, you know, clickbait on social media. Send them my article so they can be properly informed on the situation.

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