Ridglan Called the FBI on Me. Here's My Response.

A journalist at Fox News in Wisconsin contacted me today with a statement from Ridglan Farms, the notorious animal testing facility that has been implicated in hundreds of counts of felony animal abuse. Apparently, in the wake of my recent blogs advocating for an immediate rescue of Ridglan’s dogs, the company is trying to call on its corrupt connections to law enforcement to defend its criminal enterprise.

But their statement is filled with absurdities and errors. For that reason, I’m pasting below an annotated version for this audience’s education—and entertainment. Ridglan’s press release is pulled out in block quotes. My comments are in italics.

January 14, 2026

Contact: Jim Newman, [email protected]

It’s interesting that Ridglan has retained a Texas PR company to handle its communications—and one that may have been involved in Texas A&M’s failed and unconstitutional efforts to crush dissent on its own abusive dog experiments.

Ridglan Farms Asks State, Federal Authorities to Step-In, Prevent Potential Mass Animal Thefts Announced by Previously Convicted Activist

Sadly, this headline already gives away that the Feds probably did not respond. The last thing they’d want, if they were actually doing an investigation, is for the targets of the investigation to be aware that it’s happening. This is unfortunate because the last time,the FBI got involved in prosecuting animal rescue, it became one of the most viral stories in animal rights history.

BLUE MOUNDS, WI - Ridglan Farms, a biomedical research facility that supports health studies benefiting both humans and animals, has alerted state and federal law enforcement officials after learning of publicly announced efforts to organize a possible mass theft of animals from the longtime Wisconsin company.

The “health studies” at issue include things like injecting dogs with rabies to make a new vaccine that’s medically unnecessary, force-feeding artificial sweeteners to dogs to the point that their testicles shrink, and all manner of other experiments that hardly have anything to do with health at all.

On January 6, 2026, activist Wayne Hsiung announced via his personal blog a potential mass trespassing and theft of dogs from Ridglan Farms in the upcoming weeks. In the blog post “If the Government Won’t Rescue the Ridglan Dogs, We Will,” Hsiung announced a series of meetings to map out the action, that if carried out will likely lead to significant legal charges against those involved. The first organizing meeting took place on Saturday January 10. According to his blog post and an online sign-up sheet being distributed to gather volunteers, Hsiung is recruiting 100 or more individuals willing to travel to Wisconsin and possibly face legal charges for trespassing and forcibly removing animals from Ridglan Farms. While no specific date has yet been announced, Hsiung has suggested that activists could descend on Ridglan Farms as soon as March 2026. A second blog article posted by Hsiung on January 8 detailed additional planning meetings and training activities over the upcoming weeks. It also suggested that additional farms and health research facilities could be targeted in the future, following this initial action.

I was very happy to see my blog linked. It’ll help SEO and traffic to the page. But on the substance, there are so many things wrong here. The first is that no “mass trespassing and theft” was announced. Distinguished legal scholars, and indeed the prior case at Ridglan, show that removing the dogs would be an exercise in our right to rescue. Here’s more about our legal right to rescue.

Second, I actually expect that we won’t face legal charges, though I wish we would. District Attorney Izmael Ozanne, who ignored our legal complaints for years, has become the laughingstock of his county partly because he pursued stupid cases such as our prior rescue. We can hope that he’ll make the same mistake again. But, sadly, I don’t think we can expect it because he is not that dumb.

Ridglan Farms is urging state and federal authorities to take this matter seriously since Hsiung and other members of Direct Action Everywhere, the activist group he previously founded, have repeatedly been arrested, charged and found guilty of thefts from animal agriculture operations. These verdicts include:

• In late 2025, Hsiung was ordered to pay two California farms nearly $200,000 in restitution following his felony conviction in 2023. Hsiung was found guilty of charges stemming from trespassing and removing animals (chickens and ducks) from two Sonoma County farms along with hundreds of other activists. Hsiung also received a 90-day jail sentence and two years of probation for these crimes.

• In December 2025, activist Zoe Rosenberg was sentenced to 90 days in jail following her conviction on charges related to a separate break-in and theft at another California poultry farm. Rosenberg is a member of Direct Action Everywhere, the animal activist group founded by Hsiung.

• In late 2023, a North Carolina Jury found Hsiung guilty of felony theft after stealing a baby goat from a North Carolina farm. Hsiung was ordered to serve 24 months of supervised probation for that crime.

• Hsiung is also notably one of three defendants charged with trespassing and taking animals from Ridglan Farms in 2017. Ridglan Farms later requested the charges be dropped after receiving threats to their personal safety and business. The research organization also observed how Direct Action Everywhere has repeatedly sought out legal proceedings to initiate media campaigns that create extensive security and future vigilantism risks for targeted facilities.

I’ve never seen my CV set out so nicely. Well done, Ridglan!

In October 2025, Ridglan Farms and a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the research facility reached a settlement where Ridglan Farms would agree to cease breeding research animals for sale on or before July 1, 2026, yet remain open and maintain the ability to continue research benefiting animals and humans.

The company forgot to mention one important point: despite blatant corruption in his investigative process, the special prosecutor still found evidence of hundreds of counts of felony animal abuse. The company vet’s license was taken away. The state inspection referred their case for criminal prosecution. And the only reason it was not charged was because it voluntarily agreed to shut down.

“Ridglan Farms is fully complying following an extensive several-months-long investigation of our facility,” explained Eric McLeod, a lawyer representing Ridglan Farms. “Groups opposed to necessary, life-changing and life-saving animal research have repeatedly stated their intent to close our facility and others like it and have all research animals removed. It’s deeply disturbing that their response to a legal outcome they do not agree with is to plan actions that, if carried out, could result in serious criminal charges and extensive legal fees for countless defendants, not to mention the safety risks for all involved. We are asking local, state and federal authorities to take this threat very seriously. We are confident most Wisconsin residents and Americans agree that disagreement with a legal outcome should never serve as the excuse for lawless actions that risk the safety and security of countless individuals and animals.”

The company keeps referring to life-saving research but can’t actually cite any examples.

And our efforts to save the dogs are not a result of a legal outcome we disagree with. They’re the result of an illegal process that has concluded with thousands of dogs facing imminent torture and death.

Attorney Eric MeLeod, incidentally, is a notorious, right-wing attorney who is apparently disliked by many people throughout Dane County. Former employees have passed along that he is an angry, hateful man. It’s no surprise that his one statement in Ridglan’s document is a threat to incur “extensive legal fees.” Sadly, though he may not realize this, defendants in the US have the right to counsel if they can’t afford it.

Editors: A series of lengthy video clips with minimal editing are available for media use. They can be found at this link.

This image is supposed to look good for them?

About Ridglan Farms

Established in 1966, Ridglan Farms has served as a valuable member of the biomedical and veterinary medicine community for nearly 60 years. The Blue Mounds, Wisconsin-based company is locally owned and operated, serving highly respected biomedical research institutions and organizations across the state of Wisconsin and throughout the United States. Ridglan Farms is regularly inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture and has a long history of full compliance with the Animal Welfare Act. The research and breeding facility is also accredited by AAALAC International, which is considered the gold standard for research animal care standards.

They once again forgot the part of the hundreds of counts of felony animal abuse.

I’ll have much more to say about this development, and the continuing fight to free the Ridglan dogs. But make sure you sign up for our next legal briefing if you want to find out more—and help us save the Ridglan dogs.