Danielle mentioned it being difficult to find information on the USDA website. It was a little difficult, but here is some good info: Here is the Animal Welfare Act: http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/legislat/awa.htm It unfortunately does not contain specific regulations, only that the "Secretary" shall make such regulations, and in what ways such regulations shall be enforced. This is an annually updated publication detailing the actual regulations alluded to in the Animal Welfare Act: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ac/publications.html Unfortunately, within the definitions of said regulations, ferrets are not mentioned. "Pet Animal" excludes "exotic or wild animals." No definition is listed for "exotic animals" and "Wild animals include only animals which occur naturally in the wild within the bounds of the US. It would be necessary to determine whether the agency in charge here considers ferrets an "exotic", which we know many state agencies do. I will assume they ARE considered "exotics". The "Regulations" section seems mostly to pertain to dogs and cats. I only skimmed it. The "Standards" section is not very well explained. Items 3:1 to 3:19 pertain only to dogs and cats. 3:25 to 3:41 pertain to guinea pigs and hamsters. 3:50 to 3:66 pertain to rabbits. 3:75 to 3:92 pertain to non-human primates. 3:100 to 3:118 pertain to marine mammals. 3:125 to 3:142 seem to be somewhat general, or at least, no specific animal is specified. However, I believe they may be referring to "farm animals used for non-agricultural purposes." However, the publications page contains quite a few useful links, and it is worth looking over. Since getting a new hard drive, I haven't reinstalled Adobe Acrobat, so there are several .pdf files I didn't take a look at, including a document containing the names of all facilities liscensed as "Class A Dealers" which I believe, according to the act, would include Marshall Farms. On several of the pages, it lists an address: Regulatory Enforcement and Animal Care APHIS, USDA 4700 River Road, Unit 84 Riverdale, Maryland 20737 I believe you could get the specifics of regulations pertaining to ferret farms from this source. Hope this helps. Melissa Barnes Mira, Tasha, Robin, Samuri, Nietzsche and O'Dell [Posted in FML issue 3633]