Police use gas, rubber bullets at Wisconsin beagle farm
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- Ridglan Farms in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, about 25 miles southwest of Madison, was targeted by roughly 1,000 animal rights activists on Saturday, with law enforcement deploying rubber bullets and pepper spray to repel them.
- Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said 300–400 protesters were "violently trying to break into the property" and assaulting officers; a "significant" number of the ~1,000 activists were arrested, though no exact total was given as of Saturday afternoon.
- Wayne Hsiung, leader of the Coalition to Save the Ridglan Dogs, was arrested at the scene; from a jail cell he wrote on Substack that "the public will see armed men attacking grandmas desperately trying to save dogs, and their conscience will be awakened."
- Some protesters breached a barbed-wire fence but could not enter the facility, which holds an estimated 2,000 beagles; barricades also included a manure-filled trench and hay bales, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
- A person who drove a pickup truck "recklessly" through the front gate was arrested, which the sheriff's department said "prevented a potentially deadly outcome."
- Ridglan Farms denied any abuse, stating on its website: "No credible evidence of animal abuse, cruelty, mistreatment or neglect at Ridglan Farms has ever been presented or substantiated."
- A March raid on the facility saw activists remove 13 dogs; the Dane County sheriff's office has since referred burglary and trespassing charges against 62 people tied to that incident.
Why it matters: A "significant" number of new arrests at Ridglan Farms pile onto 62 people already facing burglary and trespassing charges from a March raid that removed 13 beagles. The facility, which holds an estimated 2,000 dogs, denies any abuse — meaning legal consequences for protesters and political pressure on the operators are both escalating in tandem.
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