PETA Statement: Feds Revoke Chinchilla Mill’s License
For Immediate Release:
October 8, 2021
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
Today, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Administrative Law Judge Jill S. Clifton ruled that Dan Moulton, operator of Moulton Chinchilla Ranch near Chatfield, Minnesota, violated federal law by failing to meet the minimal care standards of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA)—for which he has been cited over 100 times since 2013—including by repeatedly failing to provide chinchillas with adequate veterinary care for open and infected wounds, pus-filled eyes, overgrown teeth, and more.
The USDA has fined Moulton $18,000 and stripped him of his AWA license, meaning that he can no longer operate as a wholesale dealer for the vivisection industry or the pet trade. Below, please find a statement from PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch:
“Dan Moulton has rightly lost his federal license, so he can no longer supply chinchillas to pet shops or to laboratories for crude and cruel experiments. Today’s victory has made PETA even more determined to see his days of violently snapping chinchillas’ necks end and the miserable breeding mill—where a PETA undercover investigation revealed these sensitive animals were denied basic necessities and veterinary care for life-threatening injuries—emptied for good. No more chinchillas should be allowed to suffer and die at Moulton Chinchilla Ranch, and PETA won’t rest until they are given a chance to find suitable, loving homes.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on, wear, or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
