The Path To Rescuing All the Ridglan Dogs Is Materializing (Plus, Moby Zoom Link)

The movement is rising. The authorities are scrambling. And the vision of thousands of beagles freed from cages is coming to life.

First, if you’re looking for the link to today’s 1 pm ET briefing with Moby, it’s here.

Second, so much is going on with the Ridglan case that it’s hard to keep track of everything. So I am going to send more regular updates, starting today.

Here is the most important one: we are making progress.

Let me count the ways.

We are mobilizing. We set an initial goal of 1,000 people signing up to join the rescue effort. We hit that goal in days and are now at 1,620 people signed up for action, and another 36,000+ signed up to support. If all of us sustain our commitments, and continue to recruit, we will have the one thing that is guaranteed to save all the Ridglan dogs: people power.

We are getting attention. Comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted in support of our right to rescue the Ridglan dogs. The influential podcaster Jennifer Welch had a long segment on her show about the rescue. Videos and photos from Ridglan continue to reach millions of people.

@waynehhsiung

Wayne Hsiung on Instagram: ""I would go march all up in this sh…

We have a guide. I wrote to you last week about the (new) plan to save the Ridglan dogs. Well, we’ve been frantically working to put together a more-detailed strategy—and a guide for participants—that will help you join the effort. We now have that guide. This will be continuously updated and is your one-stop-shop to joining the rescue effort and getting more people involved.

We have a community. There’s a new WhatsApp community with 863 people focused on saving the Ridglan dogs. (Click here to join it!) Beyond this newsletter and the savethedogs.io website, this is going to be the primary way for you to communicate with me and the other organizers. The only channel in that community you are required to join is the Announcements channel. If you join any other channels, be prepared for some beautiful chaos!

We have remarkable talent doing remarkable things. The power of the grassroots is that we can harness all of your abilities to make our movement as powerful as possible. And you have stepped up. We have a brilliant new website, fundraising resources, and even an AI chatbot to answer questions on WhatsApp (just tag Beaglebot in the Questions for Organizers channel)—all the result of amazing volunteers. This is what Marshall Ganz calls strategic capacity: the ability of a grassroots movement to solve hard problems by tapping into the wisdom of the crowd.

We are shaking the powers that be. For a decade, the authorities have ignored overwhelming evidence of abuse. That changed this week. The Sheriff of Dane County called me, with his chief deputy, and we spoke for 36 minutes. The TL;DR is that he sees we have a point, and he’s scrambling to figure out how to respond. The law is on our side, and the authorities are finally beginning to realize this. Here’s a memo and transcript of that conversation, along with an audio recording, that I’m sharing with the Sheriff’s consent.

We have a vision. The last few weeks have been insanely stressful. My wife was put on trial. I smashed into Ridglan and got thrown in jail. And while millions of people have cheered us on, many others have attacked me (including Special Prosecutor Tim Gruenke, who publicly accused me of crimes and claimed I am “out for self promotion”). Some have even threatened to kill me! The thing that keeps me, not just resilient but focused and inspired, is the vision that is materializing.

Prosecutor Tim Gruenke refused to help the dogs—but accused me of crimes when I intervened.

And what is that vision? For 10 years, I have remembered the cries of a poor mama I saw trapped at Ridglan, whose vocal cords were mutilated because she was making too much noise. The fog of that dark memory is now lifting and being replaced with something better, something kinder. It is a vision of thousands of beagles, coming out into the sunlight. Feeling softness. Getting hugs. Playing with a ball for the first time.

This vision is not just mine. It’s yours. It’s ours. And it’s the most important sign of progress. The mountain we have to climb is not going to be an easy one. But we’ve seen what’s on the mountaintop. Thousands of beautiful little beagles finding love and family for the first time. And we will not be stopped until every one of those puppies is safe, happy, and free.

Sign up at savethedogs.io for the rescue on the weekend of April 19. And ask every one of your friends to do the same.