Hundreds trying to storm Wisconsin beagle research facility met with rubber bullets, pepper spray
BLUE MUNDS, Wisconsin (AP) — About 1,000 animal welfare activists trying to enter a beagle breeding and research facility in Wisconsin on Saturday were turned away by police, who fired rubber bullets and pepper spray into the crowd and arrested the group’s leader.
This was the second attempt in as many months by protesters to take beagle dogs from the Ridglan Farms facility in Blue Mounds, a small town about 25 miles (about 40 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Madison.
Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said in a video statement that 300 to 400 protesters “violently attempted to enter the property” and attacked officers. He said protesters ignored areas designated for peaceful protest and blocked roads to prevent emergency vehicles from entering.
“This is not a peaceful protest,” Barrett said.
The sheriff’s department said a “significant” number of protesters were arrested out of about 1,000 in the area, but did not provide an exact number as processing was ongoing as of the afternoon.
Protesters tried to breach barricades that included a manure-filled ditch, hay bales and a barbed wire fence. Some protesters managed to breach the fence but were unable to enter the facility where an estimated 2,000 beagle dogs are kept. Wisconsin State Journal reported.
“I feel defeated,” activist Julie Vrzeski told the newspaper after no dogs had been successfully captured nearly three hours after the operation began.
Activists later moved from the Ridglan facility to protest outside the jail in downtown Madison.
The Ridglan Dog Rescue Coalition group announced plans to seize the dogs on Sunday but launched its operation a day earlier. X account of the group’s leader, Wayne Hsiung, posted a picture from his arrest.
A man who “recklessly” drove a pickup truck through the front gate of the property was arrested, the sheriff’s department said, “preventing a potentially fatal outcome.”
Protesters broke into the facility in March and took 30 dogs. Twenty-seven people were arrested for trespassing and other charges.
Ridglan has denied mistreating animals, but in October agreed to give up his state breeding license effective July 1 as part of a deal to avoid an investigation into animal abuse accusations.
on the website “No credible evidence of animal abuse, cruelty, mistreatment or neglect has been presented or proven at Ridglan Farms,” it says.
