'Baywatch' Actress Alexandra Paul Arrested for Freeing Beagles During Animal Rights Protest

Baywatch actress Alexandra Paul was arrested after allegedly freeing beagles from a controversial breeding facility during an animal rights protest on Sunday morning.

Paul was accused of trespassing after being caught on camera — alongside 50 to 60 other animal rights protesters — allegedly removing dogs from Ridglan Farms, a breeding facility in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, according to a report by People.

The Dane County Sheriff’s Office told the magazine that Paul — best known for playing Stephanie Holden on the popular 90’s TV show Baywatch — was one of approximately 20 people arrested as a result of Sunday morning’s exploits.

“Activists broke into the facility and began removing numerous dogs,” the sheriff’s office said, adding that while some of the beagles have since been recovered and returned to Ridglan Farms, several of the dogs still remain unaccounted for.

Ridglan Farms has become a target of animal rights activists due to being one of only two large dog breeders in the United States that offers its animals to be used for experimentation in scientific research.

“These dogs are caged, poisoned, and even mutilated at Ridglan Farms,” attorney and activist Wayne Hsiung — who helped organize Sunday’s actions — said. “If any individual had been implicated in these crimes, the dogs would have been seized and protected.”

Late last year, as part of a settlement with Dane County, the facility agreed to stop selling dogs purposefully bred for biomedical research by July 1, 2026, according to a report by WKOW 27.

Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said that while his office “understands how deeply people feel for the beagles at Ridglan Farms,” and they respect people’s right to protest, authorities must “respond when unlawful activity takes place.”

“We encourage anyone with concerns about animal welfare or research practices to engage through lawful and constructive avenues,” Sheriff Barrett said.

Members of a group called “Coalition to Save the Ridglan Dogs” boasted about taking 31 dogs from the facility, and claimed police were only able to recover eight of them, WMTV 15 reported.

As for Paul, Sunday’s incident makes for the second time the actress has had a run-in with law enforcement in connection to allegedly freeing animals.

Three years ago, Paul was charged with misdemeanor theft for allegedly taking two chickens from a Foster Farms truck in late 2021, but People says she was found not guilty.

Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.