This article was originally published in PETA’s Augustus Club newsletter. PETA’s Augustus Club is a complimentary club honoring those who are leaving a legacy for animals through a planned gift to PETA. If you have made a planned gift to PETA, please let us know so that we can thank you! If you have not yet left a legacy for animals but would like information on how to do so, please contact us.
Charlene is a chinchilla who was confined to a small, rusty wire cage at Moulton Chinchilla Ranch (MCR) in Minnesota.
Chinchillas from MCR have been used by experimenters at the National Institutes of Health, in the U.S. Navy, and by those affiliated with universities around the world, including Harvard Medical School. Chinchillas’ large, expressive ears make them popular targets for painful, cruel, and invasive hearing and ear-infection experiments.
The stench of the accumulated waste of nearly 1,000 intensively confined chinchillas entered Charlene’s nostrils with every breath she took. She wasn’t given the opportunity to run, jump, or climb like her cousins in nature. Worse still, she sustained a horrible foot injury that resulted in a bloody stump with the bones exposed!
Other chinchillas at MCR were denied veterinary care for abscessed and ruptured mammary glands and protruding or pus-filled eyes, among other serious conditions.
Many of these social animals—who naturally live in herds of up to 100 high up in the Andes Mountains—were caged all alone. Others were crammed together so tightly they could barely move. They had nowhere to burrow or hide, which to nocturnal prey animals like chinchillas is terrifying.
MCR also sells chinchillas to the pet trade, meaning that many are purchased on a whim by impulse buyers and end up neglected or even abandoned.
Luckily, Charlene was spared becoming pet store inventory or a living test tube. Our investigator rushed her to a veterinarian for emergency care. Her leg was amputated, and she has now recovered and is thriving in a loving home.
With resources from our Augustus Club members, PETA has a long history of shutting down places like MCR. One of the largest chinchilla farms in California closed down following an investigation by PETA, and we rescued more than 400 chinchillas from it.
Thank you for enabling us to expose breeding mills, save animals like Charlene, and continue our vigorous work to end this shameful abuse.
Watch Charlene’s Story and Take Action To Help Chinchillas Like Her
