Hundreds of animal activists staged a break-in at Ridglan Farms, a beagle breeding facility in Blue Mounds, aiming to take all of the approximately 2,000 dogs inside the facility.
The raid follows a smaller-scale break-in on March 15 where activists removed 22 beagles from the property.
Ridglan Farms estimated 1,500 activists at the scene in a press release this morning. According to Ridglan, police arrested an activist driving a pickup truck through the property’s front gate around 10 a.m. and activists tossed tear gas canisters back into police. The Dane County Sheriff’s Office Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said 300-400 people are attempting to break into the facility.
Ridglan Farms, a research dog breeder that previously supplied dogs to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has faced backlash and recent lawsuits over animal cruelty. Ridglan Farms said the raid, originally scheduled for 8 a.m. Sunday, could cause $6 million in damages to the property.
As of 10:50 a.m., no activists had entered the building housing the dogs, according to a livestream on Unchained TV that started around 9 a.m. Armed police wore gas masks, deploying tear gas and rubber bullets. Hay bales, fences and a trench surrounded the property. According to one woman in the livestream, the property also had electric fences. Activists pushed hay bales into the trench and climbed over them.
White-clad activists on the “red team” planned to enter the facility, while activists on the “yellow team” planned to trespass on property but not enter the facility. Activists on the “green team” held signs and protested outside on public property.
The Dane County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction over Blue Mounds, issued 70 charges to 63 people after the March 15 incident. Charges included burglary, trespassing and criminal damage to property.
Police arrested the movement’s leader, lawyer Wayne Hsiung, soon after activists arrived on the scene at 9 a.m. In 2024, Hsiung wrote a “right to rescue” memorandum in Harvard Law Review arguing for the legality of a raid.
Today's action likely involves at least 12-15 UW-Madison students, according to Brian Wagenaar, a first-year law student at UW-Madison and yellow team lead. Wagenaar, who took part in the March 15 operation, said Hsiung spoke about the event on campus in January. He said 2,059 people signed up for the April 18 event including 585 people on red teams, 595 people on yellow teams, 796 on green teams, and 88 team leads.
“The goal is to help get as many dogs out as possible,” Wagenaar told The Daily Cardinal. “The legal system is unwilling at this point to step up and do their job and to help these dogs… We’re trying to put pressure on the system to recognize this continuous wrong that has been occurring.”
Ridglan Farms will lose their breeding license after July 1, but is allowed to keep dogs on the property past that date as a research facility. Their lead veterinarian Richard Von Domelen lost his license after non-veterinarian employees were found performing operations on beagles, and a Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection inspection found 311 code violations in September.
Micah Scott, a UW-Madison senior studying Spanish, legal studies and sociology, told the Cardinal she’d be on the red team. She’s been involved with local animal rights organization Dane4Dogs since she was a freshman.
“I'm graduating this year… [a felony charge] is definitely a concern,” Scott told the Cardinal. “[But] it feels like something I absolutely have to do. My dog honestly saved my life. She got me out of a really awful depression, and I feel like I owe it to other dogs to save them.”
In a press release, Barrett said the police will “enforce the law impartially and decisively if necessary. This includes addressing trespassing, burglary, criminal damage to property, obstruction of an investigation, and any other illegal actions.”
UW-Madison spokesperson Gillian Drummond told the Cardinal that student criminal conduct in Dane County is forwarded to UW-Madison and the university can take action for non-academic misconduct.
“UW-Madison embraces the free expression rights of students and employees, within the boundaries of the law, and does not involve itself in their personal activities,” Drummond said in a statement.
At a hearing Thursday, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, whose district includes Blue Mounds, asked U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to suspend funding to laboratories associated with Ridglan Farms.
This is a developing story.
