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âLiberatedâ Minks Rounded Up
More than 9,000 minks set free from a Sultan, Washington, fur farm by an animal liberation group this week were back in their pens but hundreds more were still roaming the nearby woods. Police and volunteers helped Roesler Brothers Fur Farm workers capture the foot-long critters, worth about $40 apiece, with nets, snares and their bare hands. "Theyâre not real tame -- theyâll bite if you pick them up," Sultan Police Chief Fred Wasler told Reuters. "Iâve never been around minks, so Iâm far from an expert and I got bit a few times before I learned how to pick them up." Guess the qualifications for chief of police in Sultan donât include common sense. Workers found holes cut in fences surrounding the farm and all of the cages opened, though thousands of the animals never ventured from their pens. Course not, they were born and raised in those pens, thatâs all the home they know. Local news outlets received e-mails from the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), which has struck fur farms across the U.S. Northwest, claiming to have released the minks. Since ALF is considered a domestic terrorist group by law enforcement agencies, the FBI has been called in to help investigate, Wasler said. Iâm sure theyâll get to ALF right after they catch ELF. In other words, donât hold your breath. Critics say releasing domesticated minks is more inhumane than killing them for fur, arguing that the caged animals are ill-equipped to survive in the wild, even in the rich woodlands of western Washington. "They found four or five squashed on the highway," Wasler said. "A lot of them just milled around the open cages." Poor minks, Iâd put the ALF members in a cage with a few dozen hungry mink and let the fun begin. Posted by: Steve 2003-08-27 |
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