Ridglan Farms, a beagle breeding and research facility based in the town of Blue Mounds, has been operating for nearly 60 years. Recently, in exchange for not being charged with felony animal abuse charges, the facility agreed to surrender its state breeding license by July 1.
Big Dog Ranch Rescue and the Center for a Humane Economy bought 1,500 of the total 2,200 beagles at the facility.
Pilots To The Rescue and Second Chance Rescue transported a total of 62 beagles, 16 of which traveled by plane from the Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport in Janesville to the New York area. The remaining left the state on their journey to new homes by van.
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Michael Schneider, founder and executive director of Pilots to the Rescue, said his organization stepped in after being contacted by No Dogs Left Behind, another nonprofit already involved in the case.
“We provided up our services immediately,” Schneider said. “Because, of course, we’re advocates of saving animals, but even more important is there’s no reason for an animal to be abused.”
Pilots To The Rescue, founded in 2015, is a national nonprofit organization that utilizes volunteer pilots and aviation to transport at-risk animals.
Schneider said the group has transported more than 6,000 animals, primarily dogs and cats, but also endangered species and animals affected by disasters.
He also explained that air travel is less stressful for animals compared to long-distance ground travel.
“Going from Wisconsin to the New York area is a big distance, and that’s one of the things that aviation affords is reduced stress and faster transport times,” Schneider said.
After transporting the beagles, Schneider explained the dogs will be distributed amongst shelters for medical evaluation and behavioral rehabilitation before being made available for adoption.
“We don’t know 100% for sure what their care was like, but it seems like they haven’t had much loving interactions with people, because they’re bred for medical purposes,” Schneider said. “So I’d imagine these animals are going to need a significant amount of behavioral care and also to test them medically to make sure they don’t have any diseases.”
The Dane County Humane Society and Wisconsin Humane Society in Milwaukee will have beagles available for fostering or adoption.
