A Utilitarian Case for Breaking Into Labs to Rescue Puppies from Abuse
Last week, roughly a hundred animal activists broke into Ridglan Farms, a notorious dog research and breeding facility in Wisconsin. Twenty seven were arrested on criminal charges for rescuing 22 beagles from a facility that has been found by a local judge to have probable cause for felony animal cruelty violations, including unlawful surgical procedures on eye glands of dogs without anesthesia.
The mass rescue has gone viral, receiving coverage from CNN, USA Today, Washington Post, and tens of millions of views on social media. A high-profile legal case is expected, with top attorneys and academics from Harvard Law and the University of Denver Law School joining in the defense of those arrested.
Three activist leads arrested at the action, Dean G Wyrzykowski, Abie Brauner, and Aidan Kankyoku will share turn-by-turn stories about successfully infiltrating the facility, opportunities and pitfalls of nonviolent direct action to advance causes, and a legal strategy that could set case law affecting millions of animals in labs and factory farms around the nation. There will be Q&A opportunities for effective advocacy and the ethics of ending animal testing.
Dean G Wyrzykowski was held for two nights in Dane County jail and is an animal advocate who co-founder of The Simple Heart Initiative. Abie Brauner is another defendant in the rescue and an attorney who works in diverse practice areas including ai safety and animal rights. Aidan Kankyoku is the founder of Pax Fauna and Pro-Animal Future and writes the blog Sandcastles about animal advocacy strategy.
They are inviting others to join them and The Simple Heart in returning to Ridglan Farms around April 12 with a goal of 1000+ people to walk through police lines and rescue each remaining beagle from abuse.
SIGN UP TO SUPPORT and receive invitations for the final mass rescue at Ridglan Farms (possibly 10x+ larger than the previous one) coming up around April 12: https://forms.gle/6MPXaQENpr6jzXmP6.
Read more:
Analysis of mass rescue effectiveness by Aidan Kankyoku, a leading commentator at the intersection of transformative AI and animal advocacy
Substack posts about the arrests by Dean Wyrzykowski (The Urban Animal) and mass rescue organizer Wayne Hsiung (The Simple Heart)