AR-News: (US-WA) Sultan farm minks released

[jim robertson]

http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/03/8/26/17389932.cfm

Sultan farm minks released
Someone cut the farm's fences and set free thousands of the animals in what 
investigators consider an act of eco-terrorism.

By Yoshiaki Nohara
Herald Writer


SULTAN -- Dozens of volunteers pitched in to recover thousands of minks that 
were released about 3 a.m. Monday from a farm on the outskirts of Sultan by 
a break-in, which investigators believe was likely an act of eco-terrorism.

"I knew this happens," said the farm's co-owner, who asked that his name not 
be printed. "I dreaded the possibilities that this would happen here."

Somebody cut about 50 feet of metal fence at the back of the farm, releasing 
into the wild about 10,000 minks that had been raised for fur, Sultan Police 
Chief Fred Walser said.

Sultan police got a 911 call at 4:17 a.m. from someone who saw minks running 
around on a road, he said. Neighbors notified the farm's owners.

The burglars left nothing to claim responsibility, Walser said, but he 
added, "I suspect it may be some people who are associated with animal 
rights groups."

The case is similar to two other earlier cases in which minks were released 
from a farm in the county -- one south of Snohomish and the other in Granite 
Falls. Animal rights activists claimed responsibility for the two earlier 
releases.

The FBI is determining whether an eco-terrorist group is responsible; if so, 
they will take over the case, said Robbie Burroughs, an FBI public 
information officer in Seattle.

It appeared the intruder cut through a 4-foot fence at the rear of the 
operation "and systematically went up and down the coops -- like chicken 
coops, big long buildings," Walser said.

"There were rows of mink pens set up in there with about two mink in each 
box," Walser said. "They just tilted the box off the holder and out came the 
mink."

By noon, about 50 volunteers and farm employees with nets and gloves were 
busy recovering wriggling minks from the 15-acre farm, and from nearby trees 
and shrubs.

Not all the minks were brought back alive. Near the farm's entrance, four 
dead minks were piled with swarming flies. They were put into a freezer so 
that they could be skinned later.

Even after recovering the minks, some of them might die, another co-owner of 
the farm said, because minks separated from their littermates might start 
eating each other.

Some minks had gone farther off the farm. A neighbor and her husband caught 
eight minks on the streets and brought them to the farm.

"I'm happy to help because these poor little things are not going to live," 
she said.

Releasing domestic animals into the wild won't help them, but will likely 
kill them, said Dean Boyer, public relations director of the Washington Farm 
Bureau in Olympia.

"There is no benefit for releasing animals which are not capable of 
surviving in the wild," Boyer said.


The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3197 or ynohara at heraldnet.com.

MICHAEL O'LEARY / THE HERALD

A mink released from a Sultan mink farm peeks out of its hiding place 
Monday. Thousands were set free early Monday morning after several feet of 
fence was cut open at the farm.


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'They'll Die...It's That Simple'

August 25, 2003

By Bryan Johnson


Video : KOMO 4 NEWS
The Animal Liberation Front says it freed 10,000 mink Monday. Rescuers say 
their stunt could wind up killing the animals.

Watch Video
http://www.komotv.com/stories/26816.htm

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SNOHOMISH COUNTY - The FBI has joined the investigation into the freeing of 
10,000 minks at a mink farm in Sultan.

It is considered an act of eco-terorrism.

The Animal Liberation Front has taken credit and says it believes the 
animals could live in the wild.

Police, the FBI, and mink ranchers all dispute that, saying the raid at 3:30 
a.m. Monday could have killed all the mink.

Dozens of neighbors and volunteers helped recover most of the animals.

Police and the mink farm operators call the recaptured mink lucky.

"If they don't get water soon, they'll die," said Police Chief Fred Walser. 
"It's that simple."

The mink farm owners say these are hybrid mink who can't just be turned 
loose.

"I'd tell them they had killed the mink and they've ruined a family's 
income," said the owner. "They haven't saved any mink. They haven't saved 
any animals."

The trucks of neighbors and friends lined the street Monday.

One friend, Matt, said he recovered 50 or 60 of the animals.

An 11-year-old girl from Lake Stevens showed up to help. She picked up one 
of mink and handed it to the owners. They told her "be careful, mink have 
very sharp teeth," so she decided not to pick p any more of them.

Some brought in mink by the buckets.

The mink had been segregated by genetics. Now they are jumbled together.

"There's unbelievable damage, if they catch every single mink and put them 
back the damage is insurmountable," said Douglas Kelly of the American Mink 
Council. "The genetics are lost."

Kelly says there's only one word for what happened: "Eco-terrorism."

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