Investigation Update: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors confirmed PETA’s findings from its nearly four-month undercover investigation of Triple F Farms, Inc. After a federal investigation found violations of at least eight animal protection regulations, Triple F Farms, Inc., agreed to pay more than $16,000 to settle the matter. The company also agreed to pay more than $28,000 to settle 38 violations of federal labor laws uncovered after PETA submitted evidence to the U.S. Department of Labor. Read more about these victories here. The Bradford County District Attorney’s Office found probable cause to file cruelty-to-animals charges but deferred prosecution.

Triple F Farms, Inc. (Triple F), is a Bradford County, Pa.-based ferret-breeding factory farm whose animals are sold to laboratories around the world and pet stores across the U.S., including Petland. Triple F boasts that it is “one of the largest and [most] esteemed ferret producers in the world” and that “[o]ur babies are very special to us.” But PETA’s undercover investigation exposed a massive breeding mill keeping thousands of ferrets confined in crowded, filthy, stiflingly hot barns, where animals suffered chronic neglect and died on a daily basis.

Based on evidence that PETA presented to federal and state law-enforcement officials before releasing the case publicly, the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspected Triple F and at least six federal and state agencies opened investigations of Triple F.

The horrific suffering of ferrets documented by PETA’s investigator is detailed below. After you read about the plight of these animals, please take action to help them here.

