16 Infant Ferrets Die at Ohio State University; Feds Issue Citation: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
October 1, 2025

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna regarding a citation issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture against Ohio State University for a critical violation of the Animal Welfare Act after staff failed to provide adequate support care to 16 ailing infant ferrets who suffered and died during an experiment conducted with an unnamed institution:

Ohio State University has no business conducting infectious disease experiments at its BSL-3 facility at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center when it has repeatedly proven unwilling or unable to rise to minimum federal standards of animal care. Sixteen tiny infant ferrets were left to die without proper support because staff did not provide help or comfort while they wasted away, resulting in this citation and two others from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In August, the agency also issued the school an Official Warning, a rare move reserved for the most egregious violations, after staff couldn’t even operate anesthesia equipment correctly, leading to the death of a pig. Ohio State must get out of the animal torment business and start using human-relevant, non-animal research methods, such as those outlined in PETA’s Research Modernization Now.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.