WATCH: Massive Crowd Tries To Storm Wisconsin Research Facility, Police Respond

Chaos erupted in Wisconsin on Saturday.

On Saturday, nearly 1,000 animal rights activists attempted to storm a research facility in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin.

The research facility that the animal activists attempted to storm is home to a beagle breeding facility that has used some questionable research methods.

In response to the activists descending on the research grounds, authorities deployed pepper spray and rubber bullets.

Take a look:

Over 1,000 animal-rights activists assaulting Ridglan Farms again today, and getting tear gassed/rubber bullets by Dane County Sheriff.
News link: https://t.co/xDeBVovWUQ pic.twitter.com/PvvVJHGHDi

— Dan Lennington (@DanLennington) April 18, 2026

Waves of tear gas: Peaceful animal lovers are being tear gassed, pepper sprayed, and fired at with rubber bullets at Ridglan Farms. At least a dozen activists have been arrested. Hundreds of others are on the property now trying to rescue the dogs. pic.twitter.com/7JYg8S2XhP

— Wayne Hsiung (@waynehhsiung) April 18, 2026

AP reported more on the incident:

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.

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 (about 40 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Madison.

Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett, said in a video statement that 300 to 400 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.

“This is not a peaceful protest,” Barrett said.

The sheriff’s department said a “significant” number of people were arrested out of about 1,000 protesters at the site but did not give an exact total as they were still being processed as of the afternoon.

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, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

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Here’s the group seen taking some of the beagles during a previous planned “protest”:

This is the moment I knew pups were going to be saved from a lifetime of abuse at Ridglan Farms.

We broke through the fence, and, minutes later, rescuers were streaming out of the facility with 30 dogs in our arms.

But 2000 remain. On April 19, we go back to save them all. pic.twitter.com/qluV19kgNj

— Wayne Hsiung (@waynehhsiung) March 25, 2026

The New York Times reported that 26 people were arrested in connection with the incident on Saturday:

The raid on Ridglan Farms had been planned for weeks, allowing the facility and the police to prepare for what protesters deemed a civil action.

Activists said that at least 26 people were arrested. Elise Schaffer, a spokeswoman for the Dane County Sheriff’s Office, said that officers recovered tools from the activists that could have been used to break into the building, but no dogs were taken.

The protesters, organized by the national animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere, successfully broke into Ridglan Farms on March 15 and took 22 beagles, which were subsequently adopted.

Last fall, a special prosecutor found that Ridglan Farms, about 30 miles outside Madison, the state capital, had performed experiments on the beagles that constituted animal mistreatment. But he let the company avoid prosecution on condition that it surrender its breeding license by July 1, which would end its ability to sell dogs to outside labs.

The company can continue to perform experiments on its beagles, even though former employees testified that the dogs had undergone eye surgeries without general anesthesia.

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