{"id":530255,"date":"2026-03-18T06:03:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/530255\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T06:03:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:03:25","slug":"animal-activists-released-from-jail-after-ridglan-farms-break-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/530255\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal activists released from jail after Ridglan Farms break-in"},"content":{"rendered":"

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – The last five people arrested in connection to the break-in and removal of dogs<\/a> from Ridglan Farms were released from the Dane County Jail on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Dane County Sheriff\u2019s Office said 50 to 60 protesters illegally entered the private property at the facility, leading to 27 arrests<\/a>. Activists took more than a dozen dogs from the Blue Mounds facility on Sunday.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the people released were greeted by fellow animal activists before exiting the public safety building. <\/p>\n

Protesters gather outside courthouse<\/p>\n

Animal activists then marched next door to the Dane County Courthouse, calling on the district attorney to take action against Ridglan Farms, the medical research beagle breeder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have just been released from jail,\u201d said Dean Wyrzykowski. \u201cI am still wearing the clothes that I was arrested in at Ridglan Farms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aditya Aswani, who was among those released, said the group felt compelled to go beyond a conventional protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing normal protest is a great first step,\u201d Aswani said. \u201cBut at some point, I think we need to use nonviolent direct action and show people that this is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe last five people arrested in connection with the removal of dogs from Ridglan Farms were released from the Dane County Jail on Tuesday, where they were greeted by fellow activists before marching to the courthouse to demand action from the district attorney.(WMTV)<\/p>\n

WMTV asked Aswani what he would tell people who say activists stole the animals from the facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like theft only applies to objects. I think it\u2019s really unfortunate that some people consider these living beings like no different than, I don\u2019t know, that like metal sign over there,\u201d Aswani said.<\/p>\n

Aswani said he would do this all over again to protect the dogs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate, but throughout human history, whether it\u2019s with the Civil Rights Movement, the women\u2019s suffrage movement, the Indian independence movement, the people in power want to keep things the way they are,\u201d he said. \u201cThey won\u2019t change unless we show them that we\u2019re serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ridglan Farms responds<\/p>\n

Ridglan Farms spokesperson Jim Newman said the facility has not received its animals back.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be clear that these activists broke into a facility, a federal facility, a federally registered facility, and removed animals without permission,\u201d Newman said. \u201cAnd they did so with force. They used pry bars, they used saws.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ActivistsActivists group says it removed dogs from Ridglan Farms in Town of Blue Mounds(Jim Newman)<\/p>\n

Newman said Ridglan Farms was aware of the release of the animal activists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next step is the most important one \u2014 is where they face a judge and they face the consequences of their actions,\u201d Newman said.<\/p>\n

Baywatch actress among those released\"BaywatchBaywatch actress among those released from Dane County Jail(WMTV\/Camberyn Kelley)<\/p>\n

Baywatch actress Alexandra Paul was one of the five released Tuesday. Paul said she traveled from Oregon to take part.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an animal rescuer, investigator, and I was on trial in California two years ago for rescuing a chicken,\u201d Paul said. \u201cAfter nine days I was acquitted of theft because the jury felt that that chicken was being cruelly treated and that I did the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Activists said they were planning to find new homes for the animals taken from the Ridglan Farms facility.<\/p>\n

Court date pending; settlement previously reached<\/p>\n

The suspects are expected to appear in court, but an initial appearance date has not been set.<\/p>\n

Ridglan Farms<\/a> bred beagles used in scientific research and has been the focus of years of protests and legal battles<\/a> over animal welfare concerns. The facility previously agreed to stop breeding dogs to be sold for research by July 1 as part of a settlement with Dane County. <\/p>\n

In a statement, the facility said in part: \u201cThe breeding of research animals for sale will end but we will continue to support necessary and beneficial research such as the development of new dog vaccines and treatments for a wide variety of diseases that impact our pets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download the WMTV15 News app or our WMTV15 First Alert weather app.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WMTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – The last five people arrested in connection to the break-in and removal of dogs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[238413,238417,238411,238409,238421,238420,112102,238412,238408,238407,238416,4,450,238415,238410,238423,238418,2681,451,238404,238419,3,238414,80209,238422,238402,238403,238405,238406,43555,452,453],"class_list":["post-530255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-actress-alexandra-paul","tag-aditya-aswani","tag-alexandra-paul","tag-animal-activists","tag-arrest-dane-county","tag-arrests-dogs","tag-baywatch","tag-baywatch-alexandra-paul","tag-beagle-breeder","tag-beagles","tag-blue-mounds-ridglan","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-dane-county-court","tag-dane-county-jail","tag-dane-county-sheriffs-office","tag-dean-wyrzykowski","tag-dogs","tag-headlines","tag-jim-newman","tag-july-first","tag-news","tag-ozanne","tag-protesting","tag-removing-dogs","tag-ridglan","tag-ridglan-farms","tag-ridglan-farms-beagles","tag-ridglan-farms-medical-research","tag-stealing","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}