Pocan Amendment Targeting Ridglan Farms Passed Into House Appropriations Agriculture Funding Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) spoke at the House Appropriations Committee markup of the FY27 Agriculture funding bill in support of language he submitted to direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to review dog breeding facilities whose state level licenses have been relinquished, and to take action to rescind their equivalent Class A federal license if they no longer meet eligibility requirements.
Despite relinquishing their state level breeding license, Ridglan Farms continues to hold a USDA Class A breeder license. This allows the facility to continue supplying animals for taxpayer-funded research purposes, including NIH-funded labs. Pocan’s amendment was approved by the full committee and will be in the final bill that will eventually head to the House floor for full House consideration.
Click here to watch his speech, and find the transcript as delivered below.
Image from Pocan’s office.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I rise in support of the Manager’s Amendment and would like to thank the Subcommittee Chair, the Ranking Member, and the staff on the Subcommittee for including language in this package on a very nonpartisan but important issue.
Ridglan Farms is a dog breeding and research facility located in my district in Wisconsin.
It currently houses about 2,000 beagles.
And many of the dogs bred at Ridglan Farms are used for biomedical research, pharmaceutical testing, and toxicology studies.
Last year, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection cited Ridglan for [311] counts of mistreating dogs.
These violations include significant deficiencies in veterinary care, sanitation, housing conditions, and overall treatment of the animals. There were documented instances of stagnant waste and poor ventilation so severe that it made inspectors physically ill.
Multiple cages with rusted or broken wires caused cysts and infections, and dogs were often subjected to the removal of their vocal cords and, in certain instances, allegedly without anesthesia or pain management.
Following the investigation, the facility agreed to a settlement to surrender its state commercial dog breeding license by July 1st of this year.
Even though this facility was cited for hundreds of violations demonstrating systematic and ongoing animal mistreatment, this facility was allowed to maintain its USDA Class A breeder license.
Months after the facility was cited with hundreds of violations and agreed to surrender its state dog breeding license, the USDA conducted an inspection of the facility and determined it was still qualified as a Class A USDA licensing facility.
This license allows the breeder to supply animals for taxpayer-funded research purposes, including NIH labs.
You may remember we had that conversation with Secretary Kennedy. He said he wants to stop this practice. In fact, he thought it wasn’t going on. And I appreciated the comments he had that day.
But this amendment includes language that directs the USDA to review the federal licenses of breeders that have lost their equivalent state-level breeding license and take action if it’s clear that they are no longer eligible for their federal license, either.
Honestly, this should be an automatic thing.
If a breeder is turning in their state license due to code violations, the USDA should at least take a look and see if they should be allowed to continue to have this privilege.
And this situation is so nonpartisan that even Lara Trump and Laura Loomer have spoken out against what’s happening at Ridglan Farms.
Interesting bedfellows.
I’m glad that we could do a little good here today. I know my constituents are grateful and, again, appreciate the inclusion of this, and I urge adoption of the Manager’s Amendment.
And I yield back.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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