About 1,000 animal welfare activists who tried to gain entry Saturday to a beagle breeding and research facility in Wisconsin were turned back by police who fired rubber bullets and pepper spray into the crowd and arrested the group's leader, per the AP. It was the second attempt in as many months by protesters to take beagles from the Ridglan Farms facility in Blue Mounds, a small town about 25 miles southwest of the capital, Madison. The facility breeds the dogs for sale to research labs and for experiments conducted on site, reports the New York Times.
Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett protesters were "violently trying to break into the property" and assault officers. He said protesters have ignored designated areas for peaceful protest and blocked roads to prevent emergency vehicles from entering. The sheriff's department said a "significant" number of people were arrested. 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 were unable to enter the facility, where an estimated 2,000 beagles are kept, reports the Wisconsin State Journal.
"I just feel defeated," activist Julie Vrzeski told the newspaper about three hours into the operation after no dogs had been successfully seized. The group Coalition to Save the Ridglan Dogs had publicized plans to seize the dogs Sunday but launched its operation a day earlier. The group's leader, Wayne Hsiung, posted a picture of himself being arrested. Ridglan has denied mistreating animals but agreed in October to give up its state breeding license as of July 1 as part of a deal to avoid prosecution on animal mistreatment charges.
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