Victory! Ferret Mill Fined for Cruelty

Following PETA’s undercover investigation into Triple
F Farms, a massive ferret-breeding operation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
has fined the company nearly $17,000 for
violating at least eight regulations under the Animal Welfare Act.

A Bad Business

The violations were discovered during
USDA inspections conducted in response to PETA’s submission of video footage
and other evidence.  

Documents recently obtained from
the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division show that Triple F President
Jack Fallenstein also agreed to pay 28 employees more than $28,000 in back
wages to settle 38 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act following a
federal investigation prompted by PETA’s complaint to the agency.

Triple F: Failing Ferrets

PETA’s investigation into the ferret
mill lasted nearly four months and documented systematic and often fatal
neglect and abuse of ferrets. We found that Triple F owners, supervisors, and
workers left newborn ferrets for dead when they fell through wire cage bottoms 3
feet onto the filthy concrete floor, housed ferrets in severely crowded
conditions, and deprived ferrets with bleeding rectal prolapses, gaping wounds,
herniated organs, and other painful conditions of veterinary care or
euthanasia. PETA’s investigator also saw
ferrets thrown into the trash—and into the facility’s incinerator—while still
alive.

Triple F sells ferrets to pet stores
and laboratories around the world. Since 2006, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) has had contracts worth more than $1.5 million with the
company. The CDC signed even more contracts with this filthy factory farm after
PETA shared its evidence and the USDA’s findings with CDC brass. PETA has
called on the agency to rescind Triple F’s contracts and disqualify it from
future contracts. The National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug
Administration, and the Navy have also had contracts with Triple F worth nearly
$400,000.

What You Can Do

Please urge
the director of the CDC’s Procurement and Grants Office to stop the agency from
funneling taxpayer dollars to Triple F.