%20(1).png)
Triple D Game Farm in Kalispell, Montana, has been cited with a critical violation for a snow leopard whose tail was ripped off.
Triple D Game Farm also goes by the name Triple D Wildlife. The facility is owned by Jay and Kim Deist who operate Triple D as a photography game farm; buying, selling, breeding and collecting wild animals and profiting off of them by renting them out to wildlife photographers for filming. When they’re not being filmed, the animals are often relegated to small cages on wire grates or concrete.
On December 2, 2021, the USDA inspected Triple D and learned that during a routine shifting of animals an 11-year-old snow leopard named Prince had lost three-fourths of his tail. The missing part of Prince's tail was located in an adjacent snow leopard enclosure.
“It is thought that the adjacent snow leopard made contact through a surface drain port … and removed his tail,” USDA inspector Brian Hood documented in his report. The report noted that Prince was taken to a veterinarian and has since recovered.
Hood cited Triple D with a critical violation for the incident, indicating that the animal trainer had not followed the established protocols for the shifting procedure which led to the incident.
“Employees must follow the established handling protocols to prevent injuries to animals,” Hood said in his report.
The critical violation brings Triple D’s violation total to seven violations in 2021. In June, Triple D was cited six times for keeping animals in filthy, dilapidated enclosures polluted with feces and dirty water.
A comparison of the June and December 2021 USDA animal inventories indicate that numerous animals that were at Triple D at the June inspection were no longer there at the December inspection. Those animals include one North American porcupine, three badgers, two bobcats, one Eurasian lynx, two mountain lions and 20 white-tailed deer.
Last September, Triple D deleted their Facebook page. On their website, Triple D is still offering dozens of opportunities for photographers to take phony wildlife photos, with workshop prices as high as $1,350 per person.
From July 15-18, 2022, photographers can pay Triple D $1,050 to photograph infant animals that were stolen from their mothers to be hand raised and imprinted on by humans.
“These babies are hand raised to become future ambassadors for their species at their future homes,” Triple D said in a social media comment.
The animals that will be utilized in the photography workshop include wolf pups, a baby porcupine, a snow leopard cub, red fox kits, a Eurasian lynx kitten, grey fox kits, a fisher pup, bobcat kittens, raccoon pups, a Siberian lynx kitten, a Canada lynx kitten, a badger pup, a coyote pup and a mountain lion kitten, according to the Triple D website.
Once the baby animals grow too large to be useful as photo props they will be sold to roadside zoos and private owners across the country.
Triple D Wildlife December 2021 USDA inspection report: