East Bay Woman Helped Save Hundreds Of Lab Research Beagles. Now She Faces Prison

OAKLAND, CA — As Carla Cabral entered Ridglan Farms, a massive dog breeding and biomedical research facility in Wisconsin, she was struck by an overwhelming smell of feces and urine filling the room.

Small cages, no bigger than three by three feet, were jam-packed into the room, some stacked several feet tall, and each one was filled with multiple dogs, Cabral said.

Swimming through the sea of cages, Cabral recalls opening one and comforting a whimpering beagle. She petted the small dog, its first time being shown love, she thought.

The more the beagle melted into Cabral's hands, the more she believed she was making the right choice, as just years earlier, those same hands performed experimental dissections on mice.

Cabral used to be a lab researcher. A job that seemed like a lifetime ago, when Cabral would try to convince herself that the research justified the means.

"There were so many emotions that happened when we were headed into the facility," Cabral told Patch. "There was elation at the idea that we were going to save them."

But what Cabral and several other activists with the Direct Action Network Everywhere, a grassroots network of animal rights activists, described as saving, the state of Wisconsin called burglary.

Cabral, an Oakland resident, is one of dozens charged last week in Wisconsin with raiding the embattled beagle research facility in March. She's facing a felony charge of burglary, a crime that can carry more than a decade in prison in Wisconsin.

"Everyone has the fear of not knowing what the future holds, and every person I have talked to is unapologetic and proud to have been part of these actions," Cabral said. "We understand that this is larger than just the rescue of one animal. "

A 'Barbaric' Method

For about half a decade, Cabral worked at a research facility where she performed vivisections on mice.

There, she says, she witnessed firsthand the cruelty that comes with animal testing.

"When I'd be performing experiments, it was terrible knowing what I was doing to them, Cabral said. "But you're tricking yourself into thinking it was necessary and that they were heroes giving their lives to save people."

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Eventually, Cabral left the field. But after a year, just knowing it was wrong wasn't enough, Cabral said. So, she sought to join an animal rights group where she felt her experience could make a difference.

She soon found Direct Action Network Everywhere and became an organizer. Since then, she's taken part in several movements and "rescues," including at the Meyenberg Goat Milk farm in 2025.

In 2025, more than two dozen activists from Direction Action Network Everywhere raided the Meyenberg's Vera Goat Dairy in Stratford, accusing it of illegally dumping dead goats and creating a mass graveyard.

Cabral and other activists also face charges in connection with the Meyenberg incident.

"It's just an archaic and barbaric way to proceed," Cabral said about animal testing. "Just because it's what we've been doing doesn't mean it's what we should keep doing."

Ridglan Farms

For decades, Ridglan Farms bred and tested beagles, saying it was to advance veterinary medicine.

Animal rights activists and protesters commonly voiced their opposition to the company, contending that thousands of beagles were being abused. Some groups, including Direct Action Network Everywhere, even broke into the warehouses to try to document any signs of abuse.

When members of Direct Action Network Everywhere first entered the Wisconsin warehouse in 2017 to document what was happening inside, they saw many of the same conditions Cabral would see during the March raid.

"People often say we should do things the right way," Cabral said. "But what they're not understanding is we do."

Cabral says the organization starts by trying to provide evidence of wrongdoing. They email and call officials and try to set up meetings.

"There are so many steps we take to make sure we are doing things the appropriate way," Cabral said. "But at some point when the authorities fail, the only way we can get justice and show people what's happening is whistleblowing."

Cabral and members of the Direct Action Everywhere Network felt they had finally caught the right person's attention when state officials assigned a special prosecutor to investigate Ridglan Farms.

That prosecutor found late last year that Ridgland had performed eye surgeries without general anesthesia on dogs — a procedure that constituted animal abuse, according to La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke, who investigated the group's allegations against the research facility.

Ridgland was ordered to surrender its breeding license this summer but was still allowed to perform experiments on its beagles.

That wasn't good enough for Cabral and other members of the grassroots organization, so they started planning for a big "rescue."

"We knew what conditions the dogs were being kept in. We had clear evidence of continued animal cruelty," Cabral said. "Instead of holding (Ridglan) accountable, they were given a deal that allowed them to continue."

Charged

Cabral, according to the Dane County District Attorney's Office, was identified as one of the people who broke into the farm on March 15 after being observed on numerous livestreams.

She wore a white Tyvek jumpsuit and used a crowbar to enter one of the buildings. Moments later, she was seen carrying out a beagle, authorities said.

Weeks of planning had gone into the action. Vans were stationed outside the farms. The group had radios and earpieces to communicate with each other, along with saws and mallets.

The Dane County Sheriff's Office told the New York Times that the protest group blocked roads and used drones that day to avoid law enforcement, a claim Cabral denies.

The Oakland resident said they emphasize non-violence during their rescues but are often met with heavy-handed responses.

Moments after Cabral reached into the cage and removed a beagle, someone, perhaps a worker at the farm, she says, got into a truck and rammed one of the organization's vans. Others pulled kennels off the back of the trucks, taking some beagles back into the buildings, Cabral recalled.

Cabral says many of the activists, including herself, stayed behind at the facility after removing 22 dogs. Many activists were arrested, but Cabral says she wasn't.

Cabral returned home to Oakland soon after. But by the following month, she was back in the facility with more than 1,000 other activists. This time, however, the group was met by police who used tear gas and rubber bullets to stop them.

"They were shooting us with rubber bullets, protecting a private company, and that's a big deal," Cabral said. "The government, authorities, they're not meant to be used as a private security for a business."

The Dane County Sheriff's Office denounced claims of bias or that they were "protecting animal cruelty" in an online post, saying deputies were simply enforcing the law as "clearly defined" by legal boundaries.

Two months after the first attempt to remove beagles from the facility, Cabral was charged with burglary. At least 46 other people face similar charges for trying to remove thousands of beagles from the facility.

The Proxy

Cabral doesn't know what her future holds. She knows she'll have to travel back to Wisconsin at some point to be prosecuted, and the thought of going to prison strikes fear into her.

Still, the feeling is bittersweet, according to Cabral. She says that without the two raids, Ridglan Farms would still be allowed to operate today.

Instead, activists were able to capture the attention of the media and prosecutors, which Cabral firmly believes helped get Ridgland Farms permanently shut down.

Multiple animal rights activist groups petitioned the Dane County District Attorney's Office to issue a complaint against Ridglan Farms, but it refused, according to a 23-page order appointing Gruenke as a special prosecutor.

In the order, Dane County Judge Rhonda Lanford wrote that petitioners had shown enough "probable cause to believe that Ridglan has committed crimes under Wisconsin’s animal cruelty laws."

Following an investigation, Ridglan Farms was charged with 311 violations of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, including failing to handle dogs "in a humane manner that does not cause physical harm or unnecessary injury."

Ridglan Farms previously denied any allegations of abuse. In an April statement, the company said, "No credible evidence of animal abuse, cruelty, mistreatment or neglect at Ridglan Farms has ever been presented or substantiated."

It accused the activists of harassing them through countless phone and email threats that ended in an "attack" on the company.

"Those individuals have spread false and highly misleading claims about our research and our deep commitment to animal welfare, fueling dangerous levels of anger and hatred," Ridgland Farms officials said. "Additionally, staff have been repeatedly followed as they exit the facility, causing them to fear for their safety and their families’ safety."

It also referenced the special prosecutor investigation, saying that Gruenke publicly denounced "several untrue claims about Ridglan Farms" and that his investigators determined the witnesses behind these same claims lacked credibility."

Ultimately, Ridglan Farms settled to avoid criminal prosecution, according to the Dane County Sheriff's Office.

The facility is expected to close by the end of the summer.

The remaining 475 dogs were transferred to Big Dog Ranch Rescue, a nonprofit. Meanwhile, the 22 dogs taken from the facility in March have all found new homes, Cabral said.

"I feel proud of everything that we did. I feel that I have a certain privilege to make sure that these animals are seen and that they have their day in court," Cabral said. "I'm so happy to go on trial and be their proxy."

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