We Have 9 Weeks to Save 2,000 Dogs. You Pick the Plan.

There is still hope for the Ridglan dogs. While direct action did not get the dogs out, it has left us in a stronger position than we’ve ever been. There is unprecedented attention focused on Ridglan and experiments on dogs. CNN, the New York Times, Democracy Now, AP, and Fox News all covered the rescue effort on April 18. Google Trends shows a massive uptick in search traffic for Ridglan—more than 2x the traffic of the original rescue mission on March 15. The spotlight is on the abuses at Ridglan, which gives us a crucial opportunity to get the dogs out. To seize this moment, however, we’ll need not just attention but strategy. And the clock is ticking. By July 1, Ridglan will likely sell or move all of its dogs. For that reason, I’ve put together three proposals for us to continue the campaign—and a survey for you to vote on which proposal excites you most. Approach 1: Culture and Storytelling We will harness the backlash against police brutality to get 1,000 of the most influential people in the world to take a public stand against Ridglan Farms—and create unstoppable cultural momentum to free the dogs. The rescue efforts on March 15 and April 18 already inspired support from influencers like comedian Ricky Gervais, director James Gunn, and podcaster Jennifer Welch. Using the stories of rescuers who bravely fought off tear gas and rubber bullets, we will supercharge this effort and make Ridglan—and the abuse of dogs in labs—a subject of everyday concern. We will compile a list of 2,000 influential people; organize our activists into teams of 10 which are each tasked with reaching out to 10 of them; then use every lawsuit, court date, and individual story of heroism in the face of police brutality to persuade 1,000 of those influencers to take a public stand. Every statement by an influencer will be celebrated and posted to savethedogs.io, blown up on social media, and leveraged to push politicians, customers, and even Ridglan itself to free the dogs. Approach 2: Key Decisionmakers and Institutions We will use every tool of nonviolent protest to seize the attention of Gov. Tony Evers, Attorney General Josh Kaul, HHS Secretary RFK Jr., and President Donald J. Trump—and pressure them to save the dogs. We will bombard their offices with emails and phone calls from grandmas who were brutalized. We will swarm their social media with photos of beagles in labs. And we will meet them at every public event and beg, plead, or even compassionately disrupt their events to bring attention to the Ridglan dogs. We will split up into regional teams that will identify key leverage points in each region: a congressional ally in Michigan, an upcoming visit to Florida, or even just a sympathetic journalist in the local paper. We will use this leverage to provoke reactions from powerful people, then celebrate every reaction—such as Gov. Evers’ recent statement that he can’t “wave a magic wand”—on savethedogs.io to ratchet up the pressure. When Evers says he doesn’t have a wand, for example, 100 of us will show up at his next event in Harry Potter costumes and offer him ours. Approach 3: Community Organizing and Rescue We will turn Save the Dogs into the largest in-person community for animals ever—and a launchpad for a rescue effort that is 10x larger than the one we executed on April 18. We will aim to have 100 “Hugs for Pups” meetups in May—all featured on savethedogs.io—with delicious vegan ice cream and puppies from local shelters. At churches, universities, or the living rooms of our supporters, we’ll share slickly-edited videos about the Ridglan rescue effort and explain how the Save the Dogs community can help everyone’s pups. Dog parents will come to our meetups for the community and support. (We all need to meet people who can babysit our furry friends!) Others will come for the delicious food and adorable pups. We’ll welcome everyone to join, even if they’re afraid to hold a protest sign. But we will have an underlying purpose: build a community that can mobilize and support 10,000 people for the next rescue effort. I’ll be in court on April 29 at 3 pm to appear for a preliminary hearing in relation to the March 15 rescue. At the hearing, the prosecution will, for the first time, present its evidence that we committed a “crime.” My attorney, in turn, will get his first chance to cross-examine that evidence. Just as importantly, we will be challenging the court’s unconstitutional conditions imposed upon me during my initial release. Murderers, rapists, and leaders of violent criminal gangs are not subject to the conditions the court imposed on me, including a no-contact order with my co-defendants and an outright ban on stepping foot anywhere in Dane County (other than for court dates). It is just the latest example of lawlessness by the authorities in defense of Ridglan Farms. Our motion, under any reasonably fair judge with an interest in following the Constitution, should prevail. There should be a livestream of the hearing, but we’re also gathering in person at 2:30 pm outside the courthouse at 215 S Hamilton St, Madison, WI 53703. I’d love to see you there, if you’re local and free tomorrow afternoon! But immediately after the hearing, my first priority will be focusing on the strategies outlined above. The first of them, culture and storytelling, is already unfolding! The story of peaceful activists targeted by a violent and lawless government is one of our most important tools in freeing the Ridglan dogs. I hope you’ll help us boost that story.