Violation-Ridden Rockwood Lab’s Purchase from Notorious Dog Factory Prompts PETA Appeal

For Immediate Release:
April 29, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

In a letter sent today, PETA urges East Tennessee Clinical Research to reconsider purchasing dogs from Ridglan Farms, which breeds beagles to sell to laboratories, while encouraging supporters to contact the testing laboratory’s CEO after receiving a tip that the Rockwood-based company may buy all the remaining dogs at Ridglan.

Ridglan has racked up hundreds of state and federal animal welfare violations and must surrender its breeding license by July 1 to avoid criminal charges of cruelty to animals.

PETA warns that buying animals from Ridglan Farms supports cruelty and puts East Tennessee Clinical Research at odds with U.S. science policy as federal health agencies are moving toward human‑relevant, non‑animal testing methods.

East Tennessee Clinical Research has been cited for nine violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act over the past three years, including denying prompt veterinary care to a lethargic dog repeatedly observed having bloody feces. The company’s CEO has also publicly defended Ridglan’s problems, stating that beagles tolerate intensive confinement and withholding pain relief during a surgical eye procedure is not cruel—opinions contrary to veterinary standards.

“East Tennessee Clinical Research’s support of Ridglan Farms is a disgrace,” says PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna. “PETA urges the company to clean up its act, reconsider its contract with Ridglan, and stop experimenting on animals.”

According to court documents and witness testimony, workers at Ridglan Farms have cut off dogs’ swollen eyelid glands with scissors, cut their vocal cordswithoutpain relief, and left them in ammonia-ridden rooms and barren cages filled with feces.

Wisconsin officials found that Ridglan has violated state regulations hundreds of times, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture twice cited the facility this year: once for missing medical records for a 6-year-old beagle under treatment for painful cysts, and once for failing to justify the number of dogs used in four experiments.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.