County Of Essex Turtle Back Zoo

This page shows the complete USDA inspection history for County Of Essex Turtle Back Zoo. The grade at the top is calculated by BreederCheck based on the total number of violations, their severity, whether any are repeat offenses, and how recently they occurred. It is not an official USDA grade, the USDA does not assign letter grades to facilities.

Each inspection in the timeline represents an actual visit by a USDA APHIS inspector. Inspections can be routine (scheduled), focused (in response to a complaint), or follow-up (to verify that previously cited violations have been corrected). The badges next to each inspection date indicate how many violations were found during that visit and their severity levels.

In the violation details section, you can read the specific regulatory codes that were cited and, when available, the inspector's narrative describing exactly what was observed. Pay particular attention to violations marked as "Repeat", these indicate problems that the breeder was previously warned about but failed to correct. Critical violations involving immediate threats to animal health or safety are the most serious and should weigh heavily in your decision-making.

If you are considering purchasing an animal from this facility, we recommend using this data as a starting point, not an endpoint. Visit the breeder in person, ask to see the animals' living conditions, request veterinary health records, and compare this facility's record to other breeders in the same state.