1,500 beagles will get new lives, warm laps after release from research facility
All 1,500 beagles from a Wisconsin research facility are being rescued and rehomed after Big Dog Ranch Rescue negotiated a purchase agreement, with the first 300 dogs already removed and over 700 adoption applications received.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The first beagles removed from a Wisconsin dog breeding and research facility that was the site of recent protests seemed to know right away that they were safe.
"They started within an hour or so coming up to us, wanting attention. Some crawled in people's laps. Every single one of them are super sweet," Lauree Simmons, president and founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue, said Sunday. "I think they are loving the attention. I just know they know they're safe."
Big Dog Ranch Rescue and the Center for a Humane Economy negotiated a confidential agreement to purchase the 1,500 dogs for an undisclosed price from Ridglan Farms, where police used tear gas and pepper spray to repel activists trying 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 district attorney for potential charges related to that break-in.
Talks to purchase the animals began months before the April disturbance, and Simmons said her group wasn't connected to the protests. Now, Big Dog Ranch Rescue is working with partners all over the country to find homes for 1,000 of the dogs, while the Center for a Humane Economy is taking the rest.
Simmons said her group has received over 700 adoption applications, but it might take some time before the hounds are ready for their new homes as the organization screens potential dog parents, moves the animals to shelters around the country and ensures the beagles are housebroken.
The first 300 dogs were taken from Ridglan on Friday, with more scheduled for removal over the next week. The animal groups have set up a staging area with play yards in Wisconsin, where the dogs are being vaccinated, microchipped, spayed or neutered and prepared for transport, Simmons said. Big Dog Ranch Rescue has already started moving dogs to its location in western Palm Beach County, Florida.
"The younger dogs will adjust quicker, and the 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 didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Beagles are the most common breed of dog used for animal testing, primarily because of their smaller size and gentle temperament, Simmons said.
Rebekah Robinson, the president of Dane4Dogs, center left, speaks at a protest at the Wisconsin State Capitol demanding that the governor and attorney general do what they can to shut down a beagle breeding and research facility, Monday, April 20, 2026, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)
"A Belgian Malinois is not going to put up with being tested on, being confined in a kennel their whole life," Simmons said of the athletic shepherd dogs commonly used by police and the military. "Beagles are just so trusting and docile and calm and forgiving, so they are the most chosen dogs for animal testing. And so we're going to take one of the sweetest, kindest"
