UW Investigates Student Group Amid Dog Breeder Raids

The University of Wisconsin at Madison is investigating whether the student group Animal Advocacy encouraged members to participate in an illegal raid of a puppy mill earlier this spring, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

In March, 50 activists broke into Ridglan Farms, a Blue Mounds, Wis., facility that breeds beagles for biomedical research and has as many as 2,150 dogs, and removed 23 beagles. Animal Advocacy distributed fliers and posted online about the raid a day later, encouraging followers to participate in “post-rescue online advocacy” by reaching out to state officials, donating to rescue efforts and circulating social media posts. The group did not say it was involved in the raid, nor did it mention the possibility of a future raid in its public communications. Jackson Ray, leader of the group and rising junior at UW Madison, told the Journal Sentinel that the group’s messaging did not encourage anyone to break the law. 

The university is not conducting a criminal investigation, but it is evaluating whether Animal Advocacy violated student conduct policies. If the group loses its status as a registered student group, it forgoes funding from student government; Ray told the Journal Sentinel that the group had received about $30,000 over the past academic year. 

About a month after the initial raid, 1,000 people showed up at the farm for a second raid and were stopped by police, who deployed tear gas and fired rubber bullets, the Journal Sentinel reported. Hundreds of dogs have been removed in the weeks since the second attempt. As of Wednesday afternoon, 1,635 beagles had been released to rescue organizations.