From Tear Gas to 1,500 Dogs Out
Thirteen days. That’s how long it took to go from Wisconsin police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray at peaceful rescuers, to Ridglan Farms agreeing to release 1,500 beagles. The state met the people with violence; the people answered with discipline; the dogs are coming out today. This is how the model works. This is what it looks like when a campaign wins.
1,500 Beagles Are Coming Out
On 29 April 2026 Ridglan Farms agreed to release 1,500 beagles from its breeding and testing facility in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin. Transfers begin today, 1 May 2026. Beagle Freedom Project is taking 500 of them. Big Dog Ranch Rescue and the Center for a Humane Economy negotiated the deal.
On the same day, the House Appropriations Committee approved an amendment directing the USDA to review breeder licences where state licensure has been lost. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI 2) brought Ridglan to the House floor. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI 3) backed it across the aisle.
Hundreds of beagles still remain inside Ridglan after these transfers. The fight is not finished. But every dog leaving the building was put there by tear-gassed citizens, court probable-cause findings, federal pressure, and rescues who refused to walk away. That is the playbook.
MBR Acres is next. Two thousand beagles in Cambridgeshire are waiting for the same outcome. The model is proven. The route is now visible.
The Breeding Licence Surrender
Six days after the 18 April action, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke — the special prosecutor appointed after Judge Rhonda Lanford found probable cause of multiple criminal animal-cruelty violations — agreed a settlement with Ridglan Farms. In exchange for the prosecution dropping charges, Ridglan agreed to surrender its licence to breed beagles for outside sale to research institutions by 1 July 2026. The American Veterinary Medical Association confirmed it. The 1960s-era breeding operation was ending.
That deal was the breakthrough. The release announced on 30 April 2026 is what followed: with the licence going, and public pressure not letting up, Ridglan agreed to release the dogs early rather than continue to hold them.
What Happened at Ridglan Farms
The Facility
Ridglan Farms is a beagle breeding facility in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin. It holds approximately 2,000 beagles bred for sale to laboratories. In January 2025, a court found probable cause of felony animal cruelty and ordered the dogs seized.
The Gathering
On 18 April 2026, over 1,000 people gathered peacefully at Ridglan to demand the facility comply with the court order. They brought water, food and veterinary supplies for the dogs. They did not bring weapons.
Dane County Sheriff’s deputies deployed tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray and flashbang grenades against unarmed civilians.
25 people were arrested. Attorney Wayne Hsiung, Aditya Aswani, Michelle Lunsky and Dean Wyrzykowski were charged with felony burglary. No dogs were rescued that day — but the prosecutor’s deal that followed closed the breeding operation, and on 30 April Ridglan signed a further deal to release the dogs.
24 April 2026 — Federal Class Action Filed
Six days after the protest, activists filed a federal class action in the Western District of Wisconsin against Ridglan Farms and Dane County officials, alleging excessive force. The civil case runs in parallel with the breeding-licence surrender and the release of the dogs. Three separate routes, same direction.
Who Was There
The people met with tear gas were not masked agitators. They were ordinary people who refused to look away.
Teachers
Doctors
Nurses
Students
Pensioners
Families
Veterinarians
Faith leaders
Parents with children
“They tear-gassed grandmothers. They fired rubber bullets at people holding water for dogs. This is what the state will do to defend a facility already convicted in court.”
The Court Ruling the State Ignored
January 2025
A Wisconsin court found probable cause of felony animal cruelty at Ridglan Farms and issued an order permitting seizure of the 2,000 beagles held inside.
The ruling was not enforced. Local law enforcement declined to execute the seizure. The state spent hundreds of thousands of dollars instead defending the facility from the people trying to enforce the order themselves.
The court found cruelty. The state protected the abuser.
The Same Pattern. The Same State. The Same Choice.
In Wisconsin, police spent hundreds of thousands of dollars protecting Ridglan. In Cambridgeshire, police have spent millions protecting MBR Acres. The institution is the same, the industry is the same, and the cost is borne by the public.
£2.1m+
Spent by Cambridgeshire Police policing peaceful vigils at MBR Acres since 2021
£165,166
Spent in 3 months of 2021 alone guarding the gates of MBR Acres
Cambridgeshire Police have deployed officers, horses, dogs and surveillance teams against peaceful people holding candles at a gate. They have arrested vigil-holders for standing on verges. They have not once investigated the licensed killing of beagles happening a few hundred metres away.
Wisconsin, 2026. Cambridgeshire, every week for five years. Two countries. One pattern.
UK Policing Is Different
British police do not deploy tear gas, rubber bullets, or flashbang grenades at peaceful protests. The scenes from Wisconsin on 18 April 2026 are not what peaceful action in the UK looks like. UK police operate under different rules, different oversight, and a different culture of engagement.
What happens here is more subtle: heavy policing costs passed to the public, arrests for minor offences like standing on a verge, and civil injunctions used to restrict protest. It is serious, but it is not what you see in the photographs below.
Peaceful action in the UK is safe. We organise openly, lawfully, and in public. Two UK juries have already acquitted rescuers.
Wisconsin, 18 April 2026 — Photos: Lizzy Larson
1,000+ peaceful activists gathered
Tear gas deployed on peaceful protest
Police firing on unarmed civilians
Medics treating the injuredThis Is Why We Organise
Regulators will not enforce the law. Courts issue rulings the state refuses to execute. Police protect the facility, not the animals inside.
The Ridglan action proved, once again, that peaceful assembly at the gates is not enough on its own. 1,000 people stood peacefully and were met with flashbangs. Not a single dog walked out.
The state protects the abusers. Both countries. That is why we organise. That is why open rescue is necessary.
In the UK, two juries have already acquitted rescuers who removed beagles from MBR Acres. Ordinary people, sat in judgement, refused to call it theft. The law is catching up with the conscience of the public.
Stand With the Rescuers
Solidarity is action. If you were appalled by what happened at Ridglan, do not let it end there. The same state is standing guard at MBR Acres right now.
On Both Sides of the Atlantic
Same fight, two countries. Imagery from the UK side of the campaign — what the Save the Dogs USA model looks like adapted to MBR Acres.