Rescued! PETA Tip Leads to Removal of 1,100+ Chinchillas From Jenera Breeding Factory

For Immediate Release:
November 3, 2026

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

Packed into two vans loaded with more than 100 new carriers, a team of PETA rescue workers made repeated 11-plus-hour drives to Jenera, along with an independent veterinarian specializing in small mammals, after federal authorities called on PETA to urgently take in the chinchillas most in need of care at R & R Chinchilla Inc., where many had been left to suffer from painful wounds and severe infections. And today, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that owner and operator James Ritterspach entered into a consent decree requiring him to relinquish all the remaining chinchillas, who are now being removed from the operation—bringing the total number of chinchillas rescued in this case to more than 1,100. Photos of chinchillas at PETA are available here.

The federal action was prompted by a PETA tip exposing a glaring discrepancy: Ritterspach had told local authorities he had about 1,200 chinchillas, while federal inspection records accounted for fewer than 400. After PETA alerted authorities, inspectors discovered hundreds of chinchillas hidden for years in a dilapidated building. A federal court subsequently ordered Ritterspach to relinquish 800 or more chinchillas, and on September 16 and 30, PETA teams, accompanied by USDA officials, entered the breeding factory—where the animals had been kept in small, filthy wire cages inside humid sheds reeking of mildew and ammonia—and removed 158 chinchillas in the worst condition.

At PETA’s Virginia headquarters, veterinary examinations found the animals suffering from painfully inflamed feet, swollen eyes sealed shut by infections, severely matted and urine-stained fur, raw skin, dental problems, and respiratory and cardiovascular conditions. Several females also bore scars apparently caused by metal breeding collars designed to prevent them from escaping when males entered their cages to mate. Federal inspection records from the operation document painful conditions, including a metal collar embedded in a chinchilla’s neck. A number of the chinchillas gave birth to kits in the weeks following the rescue.

The chinchillas are receiving veterinary treatment at PETA and recovering on soft, clean bedding in cool, well-ventilated rooms with fresh food, water, hay, cozy hideouts, and ample enrichment toys. Their ages range from newborn to seventeen years old.

Top: The building that housed many chinchillas rescued by PETA. Credit: USDA

Bottom: Rescued chinchilla at PETA. Credit: PETA

“These chinchillas knew nothing but filth, misery, and neglect at this breeding hellhole, but now they’re finally getting the care and comfort they had long been denied,” says PETA Vice President of Legal Advocacy Daniel Paden. “PETA reminds everyone that animals at pet stores come from mass breeders like this one, where hundreds or even thousands languish out of public view, and to never buy any animal from a pet store or breeder.”

R & R Chinchilla sold animals to laboratories for experimentation and to the pet trade. Thanks to another PETA tip, Ritterspach is also the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation by Hancock County agencies for suspected violations of Ohio’s cruelty-to-animals laws.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—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.