Madison, Wisconsin.. Animal shelter groups said Wednesday they have agreed to purchase nearly 1,500 beagle dogs from a Wisconsin dog breeding and research company that was the site of… Violent clash Earlier this month between Activists They tried to storm in, but the police repelled them with tear gas and pepper spray.
Big Dog Ranch Rescue and the Center for Humane Economics said they have entered into a confidential agreement with Ridglan Farms to purchase 1,500 of the facility’s approximately 2,000 beagles at an undisclosed price. It’s not clear what the plans are for the remaining dogs.
Ridglan Farms did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
“It’s a very big win, and I’m so happy to get these dogs out and into loving homes,” Lori Simmons, president and founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue, told The Associated Press.
Simmons said she couldn’t discuss payment for the dogs, how long the deal took, or how many beagles were left at Ridglan after the deal.
The 1,500 dogs will be transported later this week from Ridglan to partner agencies as well as to Big Dog Ranch Rescue facilities in Florida and Alabama, Simmons said. They will receive health checks, microchips and vaccinations before being evaluated for adoption, she said.
“These dogs need to learn to walk on a leash,” Simmons said. “They need to learn to live in a home environment, be isolated, spayed and neutered.”
But even if they don’t exercise in their adopted homes, they can always come back to Big Dog Ranch Rescue, Simmons says. Big Dog Ranch Rescue says its facility in Loxahatchee, Florida, is the largest cage-free, no-kill dog rescue in the country.
Animal rights activists have been pushing for 10 years for the dogs at Ridgelan Farms to be adopted out, not sold to other research facilities.
Simmons said her group was not involved in the recent protests that have drawn increased attention to Ridglan, but she credited activists with raising awareness about what was happening.
“What they did was spread the message,” Simmons said of the activists. “What we did, we wanted to do legally and in the best way and in order to achieve the best outcome for these dogs in the future.”
About 1,000 activists from across the country came to Ridglan Farms in the rural Blue Mounds in an April 18 effort to seize the beagles located there about 25 miles (about 40 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Madison. They were confronted by police, who responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray. The Dane County Police Department said 29 people were arrested and five counts of felony burglary.
Activists filed a federal lawsuit in Wisconsin last week alleging that police used unnecessary force to repel those trying to break into the facility and take the dogs. Those who attempted to break in were a “violent mob” who launched an “attack on a federally licensed research facility,” Ridglan said.
In March, activists stormed the Ridgelan area and left with 30 beagle dogs. Sixty-three people from the Sheriff’s Department have been referred to the District Attorney for possible charges related to this break-in.
Ridgelan Farms agreed in October to give up its state breeding license effective July 1 as part of a deal to avoid prosecution on animal abuse charges. Ridglan Farms denied abusing the animals, but a special prosecutor determined that Ridglan Farms was performing eye surgeries on dogs in violation of state veterinary standards.