Court Orders Chinchilla Breeder to Surrender 800 Animals He Hid From Feds: More Violations Found 

For Immediate Release:
September 4, 2026

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Today, a U.S. District Court judge ordered R & R Chinchilla, Inc., and its owner and operator, James Ritterspach, to begin working cooperatively with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to relinquish the 800 or more chinchillas he had hidden from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors. The court also ordered Ritterspach to provide veterinary care for any chinchilla who shows “any sign of illness, injury, or disease”—something he has continuously failed to do, causing animals to suffer greatly—and ensure that every chinchilla on the property “receives a complete physical examination from head to tail by a licensed veterinarian who has received training and/or experience in the care and management of chinchillas” by September 11. The ruling follows a PETA tip to the USDA that Ritterspach was concealing a large number of animals at his operation, and the DOJ’s notice to the court late yesterday that R & R Chinchilla had not complied with the court’s temporary restraining order and that nine more alleged violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act had been discovered at the property.

According to the USDA’s September 1 inspection report, Ritterspach failed to provide veterinary care—as he had already been ordered by the court to do—to three chinchillas, including one “whose eyes were still swollen shut with pus-like discharge.” Five more chinchillas were also found in need of veterinary care; at least 121 chinchillas still had metal collars around their necks, in violation of the court’s August 21 order to remove them; animals were still “living in enclosures almost entirely covered by feces or wet substrate”; and Ritterspach failed to provide the DOJ with an accurate inventory of all animals on the property.

“For years, James Ritterspach has caged chinchillas in disgusting conditions and left them to suffer without veterinary care, but now, hundreds of these tormented animals will be taken out of there,” says PETA Vice President Daniel Paden. “PETA hopes to see this chinchilla factory shut down and all of the remaining animals rescued, and reminds everyone never to buy any animal from a pet store or breeder.”

R & R Chinchilla sold animals to laboratories for experimentation and to the pet trade. The USDA had counted fewer than 400 chinchillas at the facility since October 2023. But Ritterspach was actually hiding more than 800 additional chinchillas in a separate, filthy building that federal inspectors weren’t aware of until they were notified by PETA. When the USDA raided the operation between August 5 and August 11, it cited Ritterspach for 24 alleged violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, including denying veterinary care to 33 chinchillas, and suspended R & R Chinchilla’s license on August 14.

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.

The hearing on the DOJ’s motion for preliminary injunction against R & R Chinchilla and Ritterspach was continued to November 5.

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.