1,500 beagles will get new lives, warm laps after release from research facility

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — The first beagles removed from a Wisconsin dog breeding and research center, the site of recent protests, seemed to know right away that they were safe.

“Within about an hour, they started coming to us, demanding attention. Some crawled into people’s laps. Every single one of them is super sweet,” Lauree Simmons, president and founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue, said Sunday. “I think they like the attention. I just know they know they’re safe.”

Big Dog Ranch Rescue and the Center for a Humane Economy negotiated a confidential deal to purchase the 1,500 dogs for an undisclosed price from Ridglan Farms, where police used tear gas and pepper spray to repel activists who tried to take beagles from the facility last month. Protesters also broke into the facility in March and took 30 dogs. Sixty-three people were referred by the sheriff’s department to the prosecutor for potential charges related to this break-in.

Talks to buy the animals began months before the April unrest, and Simmons said his group was not connected to the protests. Today, Big Dog Ranch Rescue works with partners across the country to find homes for 1,000 dogs, while the Center for a Humane Economy takes care of the rest.

Simmons said his group has received more than 700 adoption applications, but it could take some time before the dogs are ready to go to their new homes as the organization screens potential dog parents, moves the animals to shelters across the country and ensures the beagles are well trained.

The first 300 dogs were removed from Ridglan on Friday, with more expected to be removed over the next week. Animal groups have set up a staging area with play areas in Wisconsin, where dogs are vaccinated, microchipped, sterilized and prepared for transport, Simmons said. Big Dog Ranch Rescue has already begun moving dogs to its location in western Palm Beach County, Florida.

“Young dogs will adapt more quickly and older dogs will take time,” Simmons said. “A lot of them are more willing to accept love and want to be with people.”

Ridglan Farms did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Beagles are the most commonly used dog breed for animal testing, primarily because of their small size and gentle temperament, Simmons said.

“A Belgian Malinois will not stand to be tested, confined to a kennel for its entire life,” Simmons said of the athletic sheepdogs commonly used by police and the military. “Beagles are so trusting, docile, calm and forgiving, which is why they are the most chosen dogs for animal testing. And so we’re going to take one of the sweetest, kindest, most trusting breeds and abuse it? That’s wrong. This has to stop.”

Ridglan Farms agreed in October to give up its state breeding license effective July 1 as part of a deal to avoid prosecution for animal abuse. The company denied mistreating animals, but a special prosecutor determined that Ridglan Farms performed eye procedures that violated state veterinary standards.

About 1,000 activists from across the country came to Ridglan Farms, in the rural village of Blue Mounds, about 25 miles southwest of Madison, on April 18 to try to capture the beagles. They were met by police who used tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray. The Dane County Sheriff’s Department said 29 people were arrested and five were facing burglary charges.

Activists filed a federal lawsuit in Wisconsin, alleging police used unnecessary force. Ridglan said those who attempted to break in were a “violent mob” who launched “an assault on a federally approved research facility.”