Overview
- Hundreds of animal-rights activists tried to enter Ridglan Farms in Blue Mounds on Saturday, and deputies used tear gas and pepper spray to drive them back, according to the Dane County sheriff.
- The sheriff’s office said roughly 1,000 people gathered near the site, with 300 to 400 attempting to break in through fencing and barricades in what authorities called a planned unlawful entry.
- Wayne Hsiung, an organizer of the action, was arrested and booked into the Dane County Jail around 9:45 a.m. on suspicion of burglary, and officials reported a significant number of additional arrests with counts still being compiled.
- Ridglan’s defenses included a manure trench, hay bales, and barbed wire, and while some protesters breached the fence, no large-scale removal of the estimated 2,000 beagles was confirmed; authorities also arrested a driver after a truck rammed the front gate.
- Ridglan is one of the nation’s largest beagle breeders for research, and a special prosecutor previously found veterinary standard violations such as eye surgeries without general anesthesia, leading to a deal that ends outside sales by July 1 and follows a March break-in that prompted 70 criminal referrals to prosecutors.