Your Tax Dollars Going to Ferret Abusers
Why would the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order up animals for experiments from a company that has repeatedly violated federal animal welfare laws? I’m not sure.
The CDC has had contracts with the now notorious Pennsylvania ferret-breeding factory farm Triple F Farms, Inc., totaling more than $1.5 million since 2006. But PETA’s recent undercover investigation at Triple F found that its owners, supervisors, and employees left ferrets with bleeding rectal prolapses, gaping wounds, herniated organs, painful mammary gland infections, and ruptured, bleeding eyes to suffer and die without veterinary care. Workers threw live animals into an incinerator, and employees with no veterinary training cut organs and anal sacs from ferrets who were not given adequate pain relief. Our evidence prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to inspect Triple F repeatedly, and federal officials corroborated our findings and have opened an investigation, citing Triple F for a dozen violations of federal laws.
PETA immediately sent CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden the results of our investigation and the USDA’s first damning inspection report. But the CDC, which abuses ferrets for respiratory experiments, signed another contract with Triple F, worth $16,750, just weeks later.
PETA has filed an urgent complaint with the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services because the CDC’s latest contract may violate a federal law requiring the government to award business contracts only to reputable and ethical companies.
Click here to ask the CDC to determine whether Triple F should be made ineligible from receiving taxpayers’ money because of its horrendous record of abuse and noncompliance.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
