Animal Rights Activists Targeting Thousands Of Beagles Held In Research Center Beaten Back By Rubber Bullets, Tear Gas

Roughly 1,000 animal rights activists rushed a Wisconsin beagle breeding facility Saturday, but law enforcement drove them back with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray and took the group’s leader into custody.

The scene at Ridglan Farms in Blue Mounds, a town about 25 miles southwest of Madison, Wisconsin, turned violent when 300 to 400 demonstrators began “violently trying to break into the property” and attacking officers, Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said in a video statement, according to the Associated Press (AP). Protesters refused to stay in areas set aside for lawful demonstration and clogged nearby roads so first responders could not get through. “This is not a peaceful protest,” Barrett said.

Barricades stood between the crowd and the facility’s roughly 2,000 beagles. Protesters fought through a trench filled with manure, hay bales, and barbed-wire fencing but could not get inside the buildings, the AP reported. A driver who recklessly steered a pickup truck through the front gate was taken into custody, and authorities said they arrested a “significant” number of additional people. (RELATED: ‘Sick To My Stomach’: Wisconsin Community Outraged After Driver’s Treatment Of Deer Caught On Video)

Law enforcement had built a layered response strategy ahead of the confrontation, Fox News reported. Among the items deputies confiscated from demonstrators were saws, sledgehammers, and fence cutters. Wayne Hsiung, the attorney who leads the Coalition to Save the Ridglan Dogs, was taken into custody on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary within minutes of setting foot on the property.

An estimated group of more than 1,000 animal rights activists attempted to again break-in to Ridglan Farms, a facility that breeds beagles used in biomedical research, on April 18, prompting deputies to use tear gas, pepper spray, and other non-lethal tactics. Read more: pic.twitter.com/nJZBKF6kcE

— WISN 12 NEWS (@WISN12News) April 19, 2026

Hsiung had gone on the “Tomi Lahren Is Fearless” podcast days before the operation to discuss the group’s plans, according to Fox News. He later posted on X from the Dane County Jail, saying, “I am in tears hearing these stories about what is unfolding at Ridglan Farms. This is the kind of bravery from ordinary people that changes the world. We cannot give up on the dogs. If we stay focused on this purpose, the repression will backfire.”

The failed operation was the group’s second try in about five weeks. Activists forced entry into the same facility on March 15 and walked out with 30 beagles before 27 people were arrested, the AP reported. Ridglan struck a deal with prosecutors last October, agreeing to surrender its state breeding license effective July 1 in exchange for avoiding animal mistreatment charges. The company insists on its website that no credible evidence of abuse has ever been proven.