Animal welfare organisations have announced an agreement to purchase nearly 1,500 beagles from a Wisconsin dog breeding and research facility, which recently became the scene of a violent confrontation between activists and police. The incident earlier this month saw law enforcement use tear gas and pepper spray to repel campaigners attempting to breach the premises.

Big Dog Ranch Rescue and the Center for a Humane Economy confirmed a confidential deal with Ridglan Farms to acquire 1,500 of the approximately 2,000 beagles housed there, for an undisclosed sum. The fate of the remaining dogs at the facility remains uncertain. Ridglan Farms has not yet responded to requests for comment.

Lauree Simmons, president and founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue, expressed her delight to The Associated Press, stating: “It’s a very big win and I am ecstatic to have these dogs out and get them into loving homes.” Ms Simmons declined to elaborate on the financial terms of the agreement, its duration, or the precise number of beagles still at Ridglan following the transaction.

The 1,500 beagles are scheduled for transport later this week from Ridglan to various partner agencies, as well as to Big Dog Ranch Rescue’s own facilities in Florida and Alabama. There, they will undergo medical examinations, microchipping, and vaccinations before being evaluated for adoption.

Ms Simmons highlighted the significant adjustment these animals face: “These dogs need to learn to walk on a leash. They need to learn to live in a home environment, be housebroken, spayed and neutered.” She added that should an adoption not prove successful, the dogs are always welcome to return to Big Dog Ranch Rescue, which operates the largest cage-free, no-kill dog rescue in the US from its Loxahatchee, Florida, facility.

Animal activists have been pushing for 10 years to have the dogs at Ridglan Farms adopted, not sold to other research facilities.

Simmons said her group was not involved in the recent protests that drew increased attention on Ridglan, but she credited activists with raising awareness about what was happening.

“What they did was put the message out,” Simmons said of the activists. “What we did, we wanted to do legally and in the best way and for the best outcome of these dogs for the future.”

About 1,000 activists from across the country came to Ridglan Farms in rural Blue Mounds in an attempt on April 18 to take the beagles kept there about 25 miles (about 40 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Madison. They were met by police who repelled them with tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray. The Dane County Sheriff’s Department said 29 people were arrested and five face felony burglary charges.

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. Ridglan has said those who tried to break in were a “violent mob” who launched “an assault on a federally licensed research facility.”

In March, activists broke into Ridglan and left with 30 beagles. Sixty-three people were referred from the sheriff’s department to the district attorney for potential charges related to that break in.

Ridglan Farms agreed in October to give up its state breeding license as of July 1 as part of a deal to avoid prosecution on felony animal mistreatment charges. Ridglan Farms has denied mistreating animals, but a special prosecutor determined that Ridglan Farms was performing eye procedures on the dogs that violated state veterinary standards.