The chaotic scene at Ridglan Farms in Blue Mounds, about 25 miles southwest of Madison, marked the latest attempt by protesters to seize dogs from the facility. Protesters tried to overcome barricades that included a manure-filled trench, hay bales and a barbed-wire fence. Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said in a video statement that 300-400 protesters were violently trying to break into the property and assault officers. He added that protesters had ignored designated protest areas and blocked roads to prevent emergency vehicles from entering. Some protesters did get through the fence, but they were unable to get into the facility where an estimated 2,000 beagles are kept, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
The protest followed a March raid in which activists removed 13 dogs from the facility. The Dane County Sheriff's Office has since referred charges for burglary and trespassing, among others, to the local district attorney's office against 62 people related to that incident. Activists have framed the raids as mass beagle rescues and have accused the facility of mistreating the dogs. Ridglan Farms has denied these allegations.
As I sit in a jail cell, I am feeling a mix of shock from the sudden escalation of violence and guilt for the failure to protect the people I love.
The group Coalition to Save the Ridglan Dogs had publicized plans to seize the dogs on Sunday but launched their operation a day earlier. The sheriff's department said that a person who recklessly drove a pickup truck through the front gate of the property was arrested, preventing a potentially deadly outcome. The department reported a significant number of arrests among the approximately 1,000 protesters, though the exact total was not given as processing continued on Saturday afternoon. The X account of the group's leader, Wayne Hsiung, posted a picture of him being arrested at the scene. Activists moved from the Ridglan facility to protest outside the jail in downtown Madison later on Saturday.
Above all, we cannot give up on our purpose. We cannot give up on the dogs. If we stay focused on this purpose, the repression will backfire. The public will see armed men attacking grandmas desperately trying to save dogs, and their conscience