Police use gas and rubber bullets on activists at beagle facility in Wisconsin

A chaotic scene unfolded Saturday at a beagle breeding and biomedical research facility in Wisconsin as about 1,000 animal rights activists seeking to breach the property were rebuffed with rubber bullets and pepper spray by law enforcement.

It was the latest attempt by protesters to take beagles from the Ridglan Farms facility in Blue Mounds, a small town about 25 miles (4okm) south-west of Madison. In a March raid, activists removed 13 dogs from the facility. The Dane county sheriff’s office has since referred charges for burglary and trespassing, among others, to the local district attorney’s office against 62 people related to that incident.

The activists have framed the raids as mass beagle rescues. They have accused the facility of mistreating the dogs, allegations that Ridglan Farms has denied.

“No credible evidence of animal abuse, cruelty, mistreatment or neglect at Ridglan Farms has ever been presented or substantiated,” the facility wrote on its website.

Aerial view of dozens of people crossing a trench and pushing aside round hay bales, with fence in background on other side of one-story barn.

The group Coalition to Save the Ridglan Dogs had publicized their plans to seize the dogs on Sunday, but launched their operation a day earlier. The X account of the group’s leader, Wayne Hsiung, posted a picture of him being arrested at the scene.

The sheriff’s department said that a person who “recklessly” drove a pickup truck through the front gate of the property was arrested, “preventing a potentially deadly outcome”.

The Dane county sheriff, Kalvin Barrett, said in a video statement that 300-400 protesters were “violently trying to break into the property” and assault officers. He said protesters had ignored designated areas 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 people were arrested of about 1,000 protesters at the site, but did not give an exact total as they were still being processed Saturday afternoon.

Protesters tried to overcome barricades that included a manure-filled trench, hay bales and a barbed-wire fence. Some protesters did get through the fence, but they were unable to get into the facility where an estimated 2,000 beagles are kept, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

“I just feel defeated,” activist Julie Vrzeski told the newspaper about three hours into the operation after no dogs had been successfully seized. Activists moved from the Ridglan facility to protest outside of the jail in downtown Madison later Saturday.

Hsiung reiterated the group’s commitment to protest action in a Substack post.

“As I sit in a jail cell, I am feeling a mix of shock from the sudden escalation of violence and guilt for the failure to protect the people I love,” he wrote.

“Above all, we cannot give up on our purpose. We cannot give up on the dogs. If we stay focused on this purpose, the repression will backfire. The public will see armed men attacking grandmas desperately trying to save dogs, and their conscience will be awakened.”

The Guardian wp:paragraph