A crowd of about 400 protesters converged outside Marshall BioResources' headquarters in Wayne County over the weekend, capping a multi-day march from Albany aimed at the nation's largest breeder of research beagles. The demonstrators are pushing local prosecutors to investigate a company they accuse of mistreating animals, while the facility insists it operates cleanly and that dog and cat research remains necessary for human health.
A Long Walk Ends at the Breeder's Door
The march spanned roughly 200 miles, though accounts differ on the exact distance and duration: 13wham.com described it as a 207-mile, 14-day trek, while whec.com reported it lasted 13 days. The march ended with a vigil in North Rose, and according to the New York Times, about 400 protesters rallied outside the company's headquarters Saturday, several dozen of whom had made the full march from the state capital. Marshall BioResources breeds beagles, ferrets and cats that outside companies use in scientific, medical and veterinary research, the outlet reports.
Activists have asked the Wayne County district attorney to prosecute Marshall BioResources for animal cruelty, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee, though the district attorney has not taken any action against the company. FOX6 also reports that Marshall BioResources houses more than 16,000 beagles and hundreds of cats in upstate New York, a figure that aligns with a July USDA inspection cited by the Times showing more than 9,000 adult beagles, 5,000 puppies and 11,000 ferrets on site.
Company Points to Clean Inspection Record
Marshall BioResources maintains it treats its animals humanely and that its work remains essential while alternatives to animal testing are developed, per FOX6's reporting. The company told 13wham.com it raises dogs, cats, ferrets and minipigs for scientific, medical and veterinary studies and does not itself conduct research involving dogs — and pointed to three USDA inspections in May, June and September 2026 that it says all produced clean reports with no citations.
The New York campaign is explicitly building on unrest that erupted this year at a similar facility in Wisconsin, the Times notes. That earlier confrontation, at Ridglan Farms, has become a flashpoint for the same activist movement now targeting Marshall BioResources.
Wisconsin's Ridglan Farms Fallout Still Playing Out
Wisconsin authorities investigating Ridglan Farms between 2024 and 2025 identified 494 violations, according to CBS News, and in January 2025 a Dane County judge found probable cause that the facility had committed crimes under the state's animal-cruelty laws — a finding FOX6 also reports. Ridglan ultimately reached a settlement to avoid criminal prosecution and agreed to surrender its state license to sell dogs, and it has permanently stopped breeding beagles, per FOX6. Separately, the Wisconsin Veterinary Examining Board accepted the permanent surrender of Ridglan veterinarian Dr. Richard Van Domelen's license, according to WEAU.
Big Dog Ranch Rescue paid for the release of more than 2,000 dogs from Ridglan Farms, with rescue groups it led relocating the animals from western Dane County between May and August 2026, FOX6 reports. CBS News adds that the final 155 beagles from the facility were relocated to Big Dog Ranch Rescue, completing that release. Dane County's district attorney is separately prosecuting 51 people connected to raids on Ridglan Farms, charged with breaking in or helping others attempt to break in, according to FOX6; their defense attorneys have argued the defendants had legal authority to rescue the dogs and that conditions at the facility were unlawful and harmful. Prosecutors have asked the court to exclude references both to Ridglan's violations and to Van Domelen losing his license, FOX6 reports, and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan has sent a letter to the Dane County district attorney asking that all charges be dropped. That trial is scheduled for January 2027 in Dane County.
Federal Bill Would Cut Off Funding for Dog and Cat Testing
The Wisconsin case has helped fuel a federal push. U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat representing the 2nd Congressional District, introduced legislation to end federal funding of dog and cat research in the United States, according to FOX6's reporting. He partnered with New York Republican Nick Langworthy on the bill, known as the Companion Animal Protection Against Cruel Testing Act, which 13wham.com reports aims to modernize federally funded biomedical research and end testing practices on dogs and cats. FOX6 describes the measure as one that would prohibit any federal agency from spending money on research involving live dogs or cats, and reports it currently has six Democratic and three Republican co-sponsors.
Pocan has said bipartisan support will eventually lead to the bill's passage and that it would signal to federal agencies and the research industry that current practices may change, per FOX6. Separately, Senator Rand Paul has announced updates to the FDA Modernization 2.0 Act that would replace animal references with nonclinical terminology and allow non-animal testing methods when possible, according to 13wham.com.
Oversight Questions Loom Over the Industry
Federal watchdogs have flagged broader gaps in how these facilities are policed. CBS News reports that USDA's inspector general found in a 2025 audit that inconsistent and untimely inspections may have contributed to dog breeders' continued violations of Animal Welfare Act requirements. The same CBS News review found more than 37,000 dogs were used in U.S. research last year, and that USDA inspection records showed just four violations at Ridglan's breeding facility and two at its research facility over the past decade, none classified as critical — underscoring the gap between years of routine federal inspections and the scale of violations Wisconsin's own investigators later uncovered.
