Here are some ways others have found info:
 
http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/legislat/awa.htm (animal welfare act)
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ac/publications.html (fed. regulations and more)
 
You can get free copies of inspection reports of multiple farms this way!
 
You can tour.  Those refs above will help you find the assortment of
registered places (which are almost always better than the large ones
that break the law and don't register when they should).  It is always
possible that some have improved and others have dipped in care provided
since the last time an FML member wrote about a visit.  Sure, some will
refuse to let folks look, but others won't and that will be an educational
experience.  For those that won't allow tours there are archives...
 
You can help with a mill or backyard breeders rescue the next time one
arises -- as inevitably will happen.  That will give a feeling for what
it once was like.
 
It strikes me that folks who have had ferrets for maybe 7 to 10 years --
and especially those who have had them for fewer years -- have avoided the
worst of what used to be sold at many pet stores.  You think that the ones
from farms and then distributors and then pet stores (which may have been
exposed to ECE along the line, or deprived of food by greedy cage-mates,
or...) and which normally live to about 7 years old are bad?  You should
have -- no, you shouldn't have -- seen what it was like when what was sold
in pet stores was mostly in-bred fur-stock from ignorant breeders.
Talk about trouble!  You can't even imagine what that so often was like.
 
***** Someone here want to fill these folks in on what the Christmas and
Fredonia rescues were and the health of those individuals, PLEASE?  (tumor
rates, very early deaths, infections, deformities, etc.) -- and those were
from pet stock so didn't also have the behavioral considerations.  *****
 
THAT is what those of us who have been around know it could return to if
there isn't a balanced approach to improvements.  THAT is why we are
standing on our chairs to give ovations to Alicia for coming up with a
fine way to tackle the problem fairly, and why other fair approaches get
such joyful applause.  I do understand that that it is hard to imagine
what it was like and how it could get if fairness isn't employed in too
great a fashion.  I also know that the influence of angry out-bursts is
small enough that it won't cause too much of an unbalance, specifically
because so many here take all sides into account and seem to prefer
logical and fair improvements.
 
It's not your fault that many did not see what has been (No one can.), but
if you listen you'll hear enough, and if you read about those rescues from
breeders and understand that it once was largely like that for pet store
ferrets you will understand at least that part of what is being said so
will see why the very concept is so frightening to those who have
experienced it.  If you think that the standard ferret health problems
are hard to cope with you should try ones with multiple deformities like
we have.
 
Hope this helps.  It SHOULD at least give an idea where to look further
and why the folks who have been around a long time have such serious
worries, and that should help with mutual understanding to help the
ferrets.
 
It simply remains that the healthiest ferrets are going to be from
responsible private breeders who keep extensive health and longevity
records, the farms fall into a wide middle ground for the most part,
and the worst are from uninspected farms and backyard breeders.
[Posted in FML issue 3660]