logo
Buyers list leaked; Wisconsin puppy mill customer defends research

Buyers list leaked; Wisconsin puppy mill customer defends research

Yahoo04-04-2025

The Brief
A whistle-blower with access to an internal Ridglan Farms database has given FOX6 Investigators a list of customers who bought beagle puppies in 2019 and 2020.
FOX6 Investigators are releasing the names of the ten largest customers (by number of dogs purchased).
The founder of East Tennessee Clinical Research calls himself a "loyal" Ridglan Farms customer and defends the embattled breeder's practice of performing "cherry eye" surgeries on dogs with little or no anesthetic.
BLUE MOUNDS, Wis. - Every year, Ridglan Farms in Wisconsin sells more than 3,000 beagle puppies bred for scientific research. Now, we know who is buying them.
What we know
An anonymous source provided FOX6 Investigators with a complete list of customers who purchased beagle puppies in 2019 and 2020. The purchases are perfectly legal, but public scrutiny of what happens to the dogs at Ridglan Farms has increased since a Dane County judge appointed a special prosecutor earlier this year to investigate animal cruelty charges. Former employees testified last fall that dogs are kept in cages 24 hours a day with minimal human contact and that non-veterinarians are directed to perform painful, but routine surgical procedures on the animals without anesthesia.
According to the data provided to FOX6 (which Ridglan Farms neither confirmed nor asked us to correct), the number one buyer over that two-year period was NASCO, a biological supply company for educators based in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. NASCO bought 1,736 Ridglan dogs during that time, but it's not clear how they are using the animals or what happens when they are finished.
Number two was TRS Labs, a research and development laboratory in Athens, Georgia.
The third-largest customer was the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. FOX6 Investigators previously reported on IIT's use of 38 Ridglan beagles for a Covid-19 drug toxicity experiment. All 38 dogs were killed on the 15th day of testing so their organs could be harvested for further testing.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android
FOX6 Investigators contacted the 10 largest companies on the buyers list, but 9 of them did not respond to our request for comment. Labcorp (previously known as Covance) in Madison, Wisconsin, did respond to an earlier request for comment after FOX6 Investigators found USDA records showing it uses more dogs for laboratory experiments (2,758 in 2023) than any other lab in Wisconsin. A company spokesperson wrote at the time that "Labcorp firmly believes the proper care of all research animals is fundamental to ethical scientific research and the ability to develop safe and effective new medicines that improve health and improves lives."
What they're saying
The one company that did respond was East Tennessee Clinical Research, a private laboratory on a remote farm west of Knoxville. The company's founder, Dr. Craig Reinemeyer, is a veterinarian and serves as the laboratory's scientific officer. He said he decided to speak up because public perception of animal research is tainted.
"They think we're just the wild, wild west. We're out here doing whatever we want to do. And they don't realize how heavily regulated this industry is," Reinemeyer said.
Reinemeyer said ETCR conducts experiments on dogs to test both therapeutics intended for other dogs and for drugs meant to eventually be used on humans. The Food and Drug Administration requires that all experimental drugs be proven safe and effective before human trials can begin. He said they're just following the rules and he bristles at the suggestion that what they do constitutes "abuse" or "torture," as some critics claim."The implication is that I, as a veterinarian, have completely abandoned my principles. That I am only interested in profit," Reinemeyer said. "And that I am willing to stick red-hot needles in puppies' eyeballs if somebody will pay me enough money. And that ain't the case."
SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News
Reinemeyer said beagles make the best research animals not just because of their docile temperament, but also because of their ability to withstand life in a cage.
"Beagles tolerate confinement," Reinemeyer said.
In March, Reinemeyer wrote a two-page letter to the Wisconsin Veterinary Examining Board in defense of Dr. Richard Van Domelen, Ridglan Farms' lead veterinarian. In the letter, he wrote that he was a "loyal" customer of Ridglan. He said he visited the facility in 2024 and saw an employee playing with beagle puppies. He learned the employee's full-time job was socializing the animals. Finally, he told the board he did not think the cherry eye surgeries that are the subject of a criminal investigation constitute "animal cruelty."
The other side
The criminal investigation into Ridglan Farms was prompted by a complaint filed by an animal rights group called Dane4Dogs.
"I think it's odd that he would want to announce to the world just how low his standards are," said Rebekah Robinson, Dane4Dogs president.
Robinson said beagles may tolerate cages better than other dog breeds by comparison, but that doesn't mean it's good for them.
"Confinement is just cruelty to these animals," Robinson said. "These dogs are meant to be social animals. They are bred specifically for their attachment to humans."
Robinson also challenged the notion that animal research is "heavily regulated." Federal law requires animal research labs to set up internal committees known as Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees. They are designed to provide oversight that ensures animal testing is safe, humane and minimizes animal discomfort and pain. Robinson said those committees are commonly staffed by insiders with a vested interest in the research moving forward.
At ETCR, the principal investigator conducting the research is Craig Reinemeyer, while the chair of the IACUC is Bree Reinemeyer - his daughter.
"It's the fox guarding the henhouse," Robinson said. "They are writing their own regulations."
Reinemeyer insists the IACUC is not a rubber stamp.
"They ask us hard questions," Reinemeyer said.
Dig deeper
In 2022, Congress passed (and President Biden signed into law) the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, which allows for non-animal alternative methods to be used to prove the safety and efficacy of a drug. That means animal testing is technically not required to get an experimental drug into clinical trials. However, FDA has yet to establish rules and regulations to implement the new law.
"I actually see the FDA as being the root of the problem," said Amy Van Aartsen, founder of The Marty Project, which advocates for "novel alternative methods" like using 3-dimentional models that mimic human organs. She said traditional research labs have been resistant to the idea of change.
"And I would argue if they're not actively, you know, doing things to be part of the solution. They are part of the problem," Van Aartsen said.
Eventually, Van Aartsen said, artificial intelligence will allow for sophisticated computer models that will be far more reliable than dogs or other animals at predicting how a drug will work in humans.
But Reinemeyer said he believes non-animal testing methods are still a long way off.
"[Some say] a decade away. I think, a generation," Reinemeyer said.
What's next
Multiple investigations into possible animal mistreatment at Ridglan Farms remain ongoing.
La Crosse County DA Tim Gruenke is serving as a special prosecutor to determine if criminal charges should be filed.
The Wisconsin Veterinary Examining Board has agreed to allow Dr. Van Domelen to continue practicing while his disciplinary proceeding continues. That agreement is conditioned upon all surgeries at Ridglan being performed only by licensed vets using proper anesthesia.
Finally, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is also investigating possible violations of animal welfare at Ridglan that were noted by inspectors in 2024.
The Source
FOX6 Investigators relied on data from an anonymous source at Ridglan Farms, congressional legislation, FDA regulations, public records from the Veterinary Examining Board, interviews with animal rights activists, animal researchers and email communications with an attorney for Ridglan Farms.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

H5N1 bird flu ‘capable of airborne transmission'
H5N1 bird flu ‘capable of airborne transmission'

Yahoo

time39 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

H5N1 bird flu ‘capable of airborne transmission'

H5N1 bird flu is capable of spreading through the air, a new animal study from the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) has found. H5N1 was believed to spread primarily through direct contact with infected animals or their bodily fluids, but the new findings suggest it can also be transmitted through respiratory droplets and aerosol, raising concerns about its ability to cause a future pandemic. The study, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, was based on a sample of H5N1 extracted from a dairy worker in Michigan who contracted the virus last year. The CDC scientists then used this sample to infect a group of ferrets, which are considered a 'gold standard' in flu research due to the similarity between their respiratory system and that of human. The infected animals were placed in close proximity to six other healthy ferrets and observed for three weeks. Within 21 days, three of the previously uninfected ferrets had contracted H5N1 – without any direct physical contact – indicating that the virus can travel through the air through a 'respiratory droplet transmission model'. The researchers also collected aerosol samples from the air surrounding the ferrets, and found infectious virus and viral RNA to be present, indicating that H5N1 can, like Covid-19, be transmitted through both respiratory droplets and aerosols – smaller particles that can travel longer distances and remain suspended in the air for extended periods. Respiratory droplets, on the other hand, are larger and do not travel as far in the air, requiring closer contact with an infected person for transmission. Since 2024, at least 70 people in the US have been infected with H5N1, the majority of them workers on poultry or dairy farms where the virus was present. Bird flu has spread to more than 1,000 dairy farms across the country over the past year and is now endemic among US cattle. 'This study is important as it provides yet more evidence that the H5N1 influenza virus that is circulating in dairy cattle in the USA is, in principle, capable of respiratory transmission,' Prof Ed Hutchinson, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Virology, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research told The Telegraph. '[The study] does this using experimental animals that experience and transmit influenza in similar ways to humans, so it warns us of what the virus could do in humans under the right circumstances,' Prof Hutchinson added. The study's authors warned that their findings underline the 'ongoing threat to public health' H5N1 poses, emphasising the need for 'continual surveillance and risk assessment… to prepare for the next influenza pandemic'. Most human cases reported in the US so far have resulted from direct physical contact with sick animals or their fluids, including cow's milk. But experts have warned that, as H5N1 continues to infect animal populations and 'jump' to humans, it is only a matter of time before the virus undergoes the mutations necessary to spread effectively from person to person. 'Because avian H5N1 viruses cross the species barrier and adapt to dairy cattle, each associated human infection presents further opportunity for mammal adaptation,' the study's authors said. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.

Why Trump turned against ‘gold standard' mRNA vaccines
Why Trump turned against ‘gold standard' mRNA vaccines

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Why Trump turned against ‘gold standard' mRNA vaccines

President Trump's administration has slammed the brakes on development of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, which proved their lifesaving potential during the COVID-19 pandemic but have come under increasing scrutiny among skeptics of mainstream science. The vaccines marked a breakthrough in medical technology, drastically reducing the timeline for development of targeted vaccines and even showing promise in cancer research. Trump called mRNA the 'gold standard' when he rolled out the first COVID-19 vaccines. But now they are under assault by Trump's Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, longtime anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his allies in the 'make America healthy again' movement. HHS in late May canceled $766 million awarded to Moderna through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to develop a potential mRNA vaccine for bird flu. HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said of the decision, 'This is not simply about efficacy — it's about safety, integrity, and trust.' 'The reality is that mRNA technology remains under-tested, and we are not going to spend taxpayer dollars repeating the mistakes of the last administration, which concealed legitimate safety concerns from the public,' he added. Unlike traditional vaccines that contain fragments or weakened versions of a virus, mRNA vaccines send messenger ribonucleic acid into cells to teach the immune system to recognize proteins connected to virus cells. According to Joseph Varon, president and chief medical officer of the Independent Medical Alliance (IMA), the concerns for mRNA vaccine skeptics are the expedited timeline and conditions in which the COVID-19 vaccine was approved. 'The biggest concern is that this rushed treatment still remains in use, even under an Emergency Use Authorization in some cases. It needs to be sent back through proper studies and vetting,' Varon told The Hill. 'There needs to be an established database of vaccine injuries that can be accurately quantified with full transparency, without politics or big money pressure influencing the data,' he added. 'There's a growing body of peer-reviewed studies that indicate the spike proteins are causing havoc in certain recipients.' The IMA, previously known as Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, launched a campaign in support of Kennedy's nomination to be HHS secretary. The group drew controversy when its founders promoted ivermectin as a 'miracle drug' for COVID-19. Myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, is of particular concern among mRNA vaccine opponents. An analysis published in 2022 found that myocarditis occurred in about 31.2 cases per 1 million second doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, or 0.003 percent. Rates of myocarditis are significantly higher among people with COVID-19 infections than immunizations, however. The development of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was aided by the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed, something Trump has boasted about at numerous points. In remarks in December 2020, the same month the first COVID-19 vaccines were deployed, Trump praised Operation Warp Speed's ability to develop a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine at a 'breakneck speed,' adding 'the gold standard vaccine has been done in less than nine months.' Though research on mRNA and its potential uses has been ongoing for decades, use of the vaccines in humans is relatively new. The first mRNA vaccine candidate tested in humans was for rabies in 2013, but it wouldn't be until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that this technology would achieve commercial viability and widespread use. To Kennedy, this is too much of a coincidence. In his book 'The Wuhan Cover-Up: And the Terrifying Bioweapons Arms Race,' published in 2023, Kennedy suggests it was more than just happenstance that allowed for the deployment of Moderna's mRNA technology to coincide with the global pandemic. He pointed to a meeting attended by Dr. Anthony Fauci and former BARDA Director Rick Bright in which the officials met with virologists months before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. The fact that attendees discussed the need for innovation in influenza research and vaccines became a point of conspiracy online. Kennedy noted that Bright called for something 'completely disruptive, that's not beholden to bureaucratic strings and processes,' writing, '[Bright] hinted that only a global crisis — like a pandemic — could induce government and industry to commit the billions of dollars necessary to create a new generation of 'plug-and-play' mRNA vaccines.' In the conversation Kennedy references, Bright was discussing the challenges of making influenza research 'sexy' for Ph.D. and postdoctoral students, surmising that something 'completely disruptive' would be needed to incite excitement in the field. Proponents of the mRNA technology point to its deployment in the COVID-19 pandemic and its role in reducing transmission as evidence of safety and efficacy. 'In the U.S., you know, we have a lot of real-world experience now with huge numbers of doses given. We have been following for significant or serious adverse events for a long time, and the rate of those serious adverse events is on par with what we see for other vaccines,' E. John Wherry, director of the Institute for Immunology and Immune Health at the University of Pennsylvania, said of mRNA vaccines. As Wherry notes, all vaccines have adverse side effects, but their safety compared with the diseases they inoculate against is 'incontrovertible.' And while critics take issue with the speed at which mRNA vaccines are developed, Wherry said this difference is precisely what sets these shots apart from older generations. 'mRNA vaccines have a couple of key benefits or features that really stand out compared to other vaccine platforms. One, they can be generated very, very quickly. So, you can adapt to changes very rapidly. This is much easier with an mRNA vaccine, where the COVID strain or flu strain mutates and changes from year to year,' Wherry said. 'The second is that it's relatively simple. So, we don't have to worry about, you know, impurities in, you know, an egg-grown vaccine or a cell-based grown vaccine synthesizing mRNA. There are very few components that go into it, and it can be synthesized with high purity.' Such mRNA vaccines are also potentially applicable for numerous conditions or even multiple different strains of the same virus, giving it more flexibility than traditional vaccinations. 'So, there are substantial benefits in flexibility, in speed, in simplicity of manufacturing and that probably also affects the cost of goods at the end of the day, which is perhaps a last advantage,' Wherry added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Grand Forks Public Schools to create mental health director position
Grand Forks Public Schools to create mental health director position

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Grand Forks Public Schools to create mental health director position

Jun. 9—GRAND FORKS — Grand Forks Public Schools plans to create a new director-level mental health position in order to meet growing needs in the district. The creation of the new behavioral health and wellness director comes after the resignation of the district's mental health coordinator. Whenever a position is vacated, district officials consider whether there's a way to restructure the position to better serve students. In this instance, "there was a loud cry from a variety of people to actually elevate the position," Associate Superintendent Catherine Gillach said. "You've heard over the course of the years some of the cries from our classroom teachers and even our special education staff themselves for help when the needs of the students might exceed what our capacity is," Gillach said, addressing the Grand Forks School Board at its regular meeting on Monday. "So really, we're looking to put this whole portfolio underneath the umbrella of somebody who has a high level of expertise and would be able to make directions and directives and that sort of thing." The creation of the position is in alignment with the district's strategic plan, which heavily emphasizes student mental health and wellness, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, Gillach noted. The new director's job duties would include recruiting, hiring and training mental health staff, establishing partnerships with community-based organizations, planning for and executing crisis response efforts, grant procurement and management, co-leading Medicaid billing efforts and more, according to minutes from the June 2 meeting of the district Finance Committee, where the position was first proposed. The director is tentatively expected to be paid $108,669, a $13,400 increase over the existing mental health coordinator position. The final number may increase based on the final candidate's experience. In other news, the board: * Recommended the district adopt Nike as the exclusive brand represented by district athletic programs with BSN Sports as the district's exclusive supplier of athletic apparel. BSN Sports was selected over a bid from GameOne for the values of incentives it offered in its bid, its ability to comply with the district's requirements and its experience with the district. The agreement with the district will have a term of five years. Previously, teams within the district independently purchased athletic apparel. By contracting with one distributor, the district hopes to find efficiencies. * Approved a Finance Committee recommendation to establish a building fund ending balance of $1.62 million for fiscal year 2026. The board also heard an update from Brandon Baumbach on behalf of the Finance Committee that the committee reaffirmed its commitment to providing busing from the Red River and Central campuses to the Career Impact Academy. * Heard an update on the district's child nutrition program from Wendie Mankie, director of child nutrition. About 7,600 students districtwide eat school breakfast and lunch, up from last year. In the 2024-2025 school year, students ate 381,811 school breakfasts, up from 380,279 in 2023-2024 and 372,890 in 2017-2018. In 24-25, students ate 890,264 school lunches, compared with 887,426 in 23-24 and 944,256 in 17-18. Last school year, 38% of students were eligible for free and reduced price meals, compared to 34% in 23-24 and 35% in 22-23. As of May 27, there was a minus-$84,439.91 negative balance of meal accounts, down from minus-$14.65 in the 2021-2022 school year. In the coming years, Director of Child Nutrition Wendy Mankie hopes to increase meal participation at breakfast and lunch, increase the amount of from-scratch cooking in the school kitchens, implement a meal repack program and incorporate more farm-to-school items in the menus. * Accepted the resignation of Cassaundra Riewer, associate principal of Lake Agassiz Elementary. Riewer has worked at Lake Agassiz for 12 years. * Formally appointed Amber Basting as Valley Middle School's new associate principal. Basting has been a special education coordinator for Grand Forks Central and Red River high schools for three years, and recently became head of the district's Social Academic Intervention Learning (SAIL) Center. She has a total 14 years of professional experience in education. She will be paid $100,568 annually. * Renewed the memorandum of agreement with the city and the Grand Forks Police Department for School Resource Officer services for the upcoming school year. The MOA allows SROs in all in-town middle and high schools, and will be largely the same as previous school years, except for an increase of $3,641.68 in the contracted amount. The school district pays for half of the SRO program for a total cost to the district of $208,006.75 next school year. * Approved a Consolidated Grant Application for federal Title funding for the district. The district is applying for nearly $2.83 million in federal funding through Title I, a decrease of nearly $221,000 since last year. Allocations for Title II, III and IV have not yet been determined, but total Title funding for the district for the 2024-2025 school year was roughly $4.208 million. * Heard an update from the School Board Self-Assessment Committee. The board will consider future changes to how public comment portions of the meetings are structured. According to current board policy, the board does not respond to public comments made at board meetings. One option floated for future consideration is to have the board present a regular report on how the district internally responded to and handled comments. * Pending the receipt of additional quotes, the board accepted a bid from Liberty Mutual, its current provider, for property insurance. * Renewed Community High School's current lease through June 1, 2026, for an annual cost of $173,700. * Recommended Crary Real Estate as the seller of the house constructed by Ben Moen and his students during the 2024-2025 school year. Crary will earn a 5% commission on the sale. * Recommended contract negotiations with the Grand Forks Directors' Association and Grand Forks Principals' Association be extended past the July 1 deadline. Because of scheduling conflicts, negotiators have not been able to complete negotiations.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store