THE RECORDS ADD UP

Serval kittens placed on exhibit without the required authorization. A bonnet macaque’s damaged, soiled hammock. Rodent droppings in areas used to prepare animal food. A ring-tailed lemur living amid accumulated grime and urine. Wild mammals sold into regulated activity after a federal license had expired and been canceled.

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These findings appear in four USDA inspection reports concerning operations in Iowa, Kentucky, Texas, and Florida. Considered together, they document failures involving licensing, sanitation, pest control, food storage, and protective infrastructure. They also raise a question that cannot be answered by a citation alone: what happened afterward, and what evidence establishes that the animals’ conditions or the operator’s compliance improved?

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Four operations — 13 citation entries

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The report pages reviewed contain 13 citation entries, seven explicitly marked “Repeat.” These figures count cited regulatory provisions in the supplied pages, rather than individual animals, separate incidents, or enforcement penalties. The selected reports are not a representative sample of the industry and cannot establish how widespread these problems are.

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The operators have different public identities: an exotic-animal breeding and sales operation, a family wildlife attraction, a veterinary-affiliated rescue and sanctuary, and an individual associated with a Florida animal-rescue corporation. Those differences matter. So do the animals behind the administrative language—servals, nonhuman primates, bobcats, kinkajous, raccoons, skunks, and other mammals whose daily care depends on their keepers.

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Critter Haven Exotics — sales after a license expired

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Troy and Jody Grant are associated with Critter Haven Exotics in Thornton, Iowa. An Iowa government establishment listing historically identifies Troy Grant as the business’s owner, and an exotic-animal breeder directory names him as its contact. The directory advertises skunks, woodchucks, foxes, and raccoons. Separately, Iowa Capital Dispatch reported in May 2023 on USDA findings involving veterinary care and sanitation in the Grants’ dog enclosures. Their documented animal activities therefore extend beyond a single species or market.

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The September 24, 2026 USDA report addresses continued sales of wild mammals into regulated activity without an active federal Animal Care license. According to the inspector, the facility failed to complete relicensing before its June 30, 2023 expiration date, its license was subsequently canceled, and the licensee was notified that regulated activity could not continue without a license. The citation is marked “Repeat.”

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The report records that, during 2025, the facility sold two striped skunks as pets and sold seven groundhogs, 18 Virginia opossums, four raccoons, and two additional striped skunks to a USDA-licensed Class B dealer. In 2026, it sold at least one striped skunk for public exhibition. The inspector also recorded sales of additional wild mammals to individuals without USDA licenses.

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The cited noncompliance is the facility’s regulated activity without an active USDA license; these pages do not establish that every purchaser independently required one. Nor do they document the animals’ ultimate living conditions. What they do establish is an inspector’s finding that regulated commerce continued despite cancellation, notice, and a previous citation. That makes the subsequent response—relicensing, cessation of regulated activity, or enforcement—an essential part of the accountability record.

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Wendt’s Wildlife Adventure — two young servals outside the license’s authorization

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Wendt Enterprises, LLC operates Wendt’s Wildlife Adventure in Carlisle, Kentucky. Its website identifies Shaun and Julie Wendt as the family behind the attraction and says the permanent park opened in 2021, following years of providing traveling exotic-animal zoos, pig races, and camel rides. The business also advertises paid sloth and capybara encounters.

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During a September 23, 2026 focused inspection, USDA found two young servals on the premises. According to the report, a facility representative said the kittens had been placed on exhibit around September 5. The existing license did not authorize exhibition of wild or exotic felids. USDA directed the operator to remove the servals from exhibition until it obtained a new license authorizing that activity.

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This distinction is important: having a USDA license did not mean the operator was authorized to exhibit these cats. The report explains that authorization for particular animal groups is intended to establish the facility’s ability to comply with applicable care, husbandry, housing, and handling requirements. This citation does not document a specific injury to either kitten.

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The business’s ownership page, reviewed November 1, 2026, also asserts continuous Animal Welfare Act compliance since 1996. That broad public claim deserves examination alongside the dated USDA finding. The available material does not establish whether the citation was appealed or whether authorization was subsequently obtained. The separately advertised sloth and capybara experiences are business context, not activities cited in this serval finding.

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Peeps and Creeps — primates, bobcats, and failures across daily care

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Peeps and Creeps in Midland, Texas, describes itself as a rescue and sanctuary founded by Dr. Jessica Todia of A to Z Veterinary Clinic. Both the organization’s website and the clinic’s website describe their association and a mission involving exotic-animal care and education. The organization’s listed location matches the USDA report.

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The report headed September 1, 2026 contains seven citation entries. Inspectors documented a soiled, damaged rope hammock used by Petey, an adult male bonnet macaque, and a plastic flap covered in a brown substance in the enclosure of George, an adult male capuchin. They also recorded trash and debris in and around areas housing lemurs and the capuchin. These observations concern the places and objects animals encounter in their everyday lives, with risks inspectors identified from damaged materials and surfaces that cannot be readily cleaned.

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A repeat pest-control citation describes rodent droppings in food preparation and storage areas and rooms containing ring-tailed lemurs, the bonnet macaque, and the capuchin. Another finding concerns packages of thawed chicken and lunch meat intended for animals, left in an open container on the ground in partial sun with flies swarming around them. Inspectors found the food at 1:29 p.m.; a representative said employees went to lunch at noon.

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The report also describes an inadequate perimeter fence around areas housing bobcats. Some modifications used tree branches and loosely strung wire, with gaps and insufficient height. Inspectors explained that the fence might fail to provide effective secondary containment or prevent entry by other animals and unauthorized people.

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A separate repeat sanitation citation documents accumulated waste and debris, including rodent feces and dried food waste around the refrigerator, spilled garbage outside, and a desiccated bird carcass in a bobcat enclosure. A representative did not know when the carcass had been given to the bobcat or how long it had been there. Another pest-control finding describes mouse droppings around the kitchen and in a room housing two kinkajous, a Virginia opossum, two prairie dogs, and three chinchillas.

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The cumulative concern is the range of ordinary care functions cited within one report: enclosure maintenance, housekeeping, pest exclusion, food storage, and perimeter security. A rescue or sanctuary mission is relevant context, but the assessment of daily conditions must rest on the documented findings and evidence of correction.

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Richard S. Sandler MD — four repeat findings involving a lemur and raccoons

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The August 26, 2026 inspection names Richard S. Sandler MD in Davie, Florida. Florida corporate records identify Richard Sandler, M.D., as president and director of Babette’s Animal Rescue, Inc., whose principal address matches the inspection location. That establishes an organizational connection; the USDA report itself names Sandler individually.

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All four citation entries in the supplied report are marked “Repeat.” In indoor housing for a ring-tailed lemur, the inspector documented a thick accumulation of grime, urine, and brown organic material on caging and wooden perches. The report also describes a large amount of rodent feces on the floor of an indoor enclosure housing a male lemur.

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Two raccoon enclosures had accumulations of hair, grime, and cobwebs on cage surfaces, wooden perches, platforms, and the ceiling, accompanied by a strong urine and fecal odor. A separate pest-control citation describes large numbers of fruit flies in food receptacles and throughout those enclosures, along with rodent feces outside the cages and spiderwebs with egg sacs overhead.

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These are findings involving nonhuman primates and raccoons. The reviewed evidence does not establish a professional big-cat or primate-training business, and no such description is used here. The issue supported by this report is repeated noncompliance affecting sanitation and pest control in the animals’ housing.

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What “Repeat” adds to the record

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USDA describes a repeat noncompliant item as one previously cited that should already have been corrected. The designation therefore adds important history to a finding. It does not, by itself, establish that an identical condition persisted without interruption between inspections, how many animals experienced it over time, or what enforcement action followed.

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Across these four operations, seven repeat entries concern unlicensed regulated activity, sanitation, cleaning, or pest control. Reading them together shifts attention from the act of documenting a problem to the effectiveness of the response. When was the deficiency first identified? Was correction verified? Did the same or a similar problem recur? Were additional measures taken?

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Accountability requires a follow-through record

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Inspection findings, correction deadlines, and enforcement outcomes are different parts of the record. A citation documents noncompliance identified by an inspector; it is not itself proof of a fine, license suspension, criminal conviction, or subsequent correction. These reports also identify risks that should not be presented as confirmed injuries or illnesses without additional evidence.

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The selected records do not establish that the operators remain out of compliance today. They do establish dated findings that warrant scrutiny, especially where the same regulatory requirements have been cited before. A meaningful cumulative record should preserve the original finding and add later evidence of correction, recurrence, appeal, or enforcement.

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For servals, lemurs, macaques, capuchins, bobcats, kinkajous, and the other animals involved, the practical question is whether oversight produces sustained improvements in the conditions under which they live. Public accountability requires following the record beyond the citation.

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Related Reading:

› Beyond the Encounter — The USDA Record of Concern

Single Vision Inc., Florida — An examination of at least 49 documented USDA citation entries spanning nearly a decade, raising questions about repeat violations, animal welfare, and the effectiveness of regulatory oversight.

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