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…