DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Federal inspectors have repeatedly ordered a southeast Iowa fur farm to improve the living conditions for ferrets, foxes, raccoons and skunks it sells to government laboratories and pet stores. U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection reports say animals lived in sweltering heat or maggot-infested filth, sometimes with decomposing corpses in their cages at Ruby Fur Farm, located 65 miles (105 kilometers) southeast of Des Moines.

Owner Randy Ruby declined to discuss the reports. But a spokeswoman at an animal business advocacy group says some of the inspectors’ claims were exaggerated and when there were problems Ruby addressed them. No enforcement action has been taken, but animal rights groups want the farm’s animal dealer license revoked and animals removed. A USDA spokesman has declined to say whether enforcement action is under consideration.