Mink eat each other after animal rights break-in

Associated Press

Published October 3, 2003
SULTAN, Wash. -- An animal rights group's plan to free 10,000 mink from a farm turned deadly after many of the emancipated mustelids became cannibals while others went on a carnivorous feeding frenzy.

About 9,000 of the freed mink have been returned to Roesler Brothers Fur Farm since the Aug. 25 break-in, but keeping them alive has been a challenge.

Normally, only siblings are caged together, but workers cannot readily determine which of the recaptured mink are related, said Kate Roesler.

``The mink are fine when they're litter mates together, but when they're not they're quite vicious and they're cannibals,'' Roesler said. ``They do eat each other, and that's what we're battling.''

Days after the break-in, starving mink attacked a menagerie of exotic birds, a flock of chickens and even a Labrador retriever.

A few mink have been seen recently eating fish along local rivers and one turned up last week at a fruit stand on the edge of this town about 40 miles northeast of Seattle.

About 1,000 are still missing.

The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility and the FBI is investigating. No arrests have been reported.
Fur Commission USA is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrests and convictions of those responsible.


http://www.startribune.com/stories/1451/4133880.html

to the top

One more time , for bsliva

LMAO Never saw two mink in a cage. Never saw any dead animals killed in our raid even though they were asked to produce the carcasses or even picutres. Can't speak for any other raid especially those sponsored by ALF.

Well, thank goodness you didn't act like those 'bad' Ara's.....

I'm curious, bsvila......

what sort of background do you have in regards to animals?
How much do you know about animal-behavior and the wild?

LMAO it amazes you that I don't speak for others. Why would I? I don't have a clue as to what their raids were about and how they prepared for them. You'd have to be a fool to speak for them.

I have a varied animal background. As far as mink in the wild, a canadian animal wildlife expert was consulted before the raid - No he was not animal rights.

bsvila:

Was the advice that expert gave you anything like the views expressed in these articles, concerning domestcated mink being released into the wild?

I.E; did he tell you the same things that have been mentioned in these articles, regarding released mink?

He did not. Were the other releases in Chatham, Ontario, Canada and involving approximately 1,000 mink, during late March early april of 1997?

Explain why that would matter, please. Some seasonal thing, perhaps?

How many experts did you folk consult on this matter?

The article mentions Aug-25th, 2003.

Why do you think it would matter? Do you think the location of open fields, water source, highways, mating season, etc etc would not be taken into consideration?

How many non-ar experts would you need to consult?

What article would that be?

Well; sounds like you don't know either......

The point i'm making, bsvila, how can there be such a different view on what happens to domescated mink after they're released? Why should bystanders be inclined to believe your consultant, over that of others?

post#1; this thread.

It's very simple if you truly want to understand. The release depends on the location and how many mink are released. Think about it. But the truth is, nobody cares what a bystander thinks. That bystander doesn't give a damn if those mink are in cages and being killed for clothing. If they did, they would do something about it.

and????????? That has nothing to do with our release.

Bsvila:

Are there any 'wildlife experts' who have publically stated that the releasing of these mink is a nifty thing?

The point I'm making is that I have doubts about this expert of yours.

Then you would you say the release by the other group was a foolish move; considering what would happen to the mink after such a release?

How would I know? You have your doubts because it's ok with you if animals are held in cages and killed for clothing. You really don't give a damn about the animals. Hey, that's your choice.

No, I have no say. I was not involved in any of those releases and I know nothing about them.

You dodged the question with the last.

In your view; considering what you were told by your expert;

Was the release in the article a good idea or not? Did they do it 'right' or did they get it wrong; knowing what you know about releasing mink?


And apparently; there aren't any of these experts willing to step up to the plate and say these releases are good for mink or not.

Curious....

Once again, how would I know? I did not study the area or anything else about the raid. I told you once before, I will not comment on what other's do because I have no idea about the facts. I don't go by what is written in some paper or magazine or even some article by an AR organization.

So I understand you:

No wildlife experts have ever stood up and stated releasing domestcated mink into the wild is a good thing?

How about a local fur trapper who has been trying to get by with trapping 'possums for several years? Wouldn't a massive release of easily baited mink be sort of a windfall?

I can certainly see it as so.

And as I stated, I do not know about any other releases. I don't know how much simplier I can make this so you understand it.

How about it?

Its a very simple question. Did the "expert" for the release you participated in say it was a good thing?

Based on Bsvila's response to that pretty easy to understand question; I'm inclined to believe their expert either wasn't expert; didn't exist or most likely of all: they just didn't care what they were told by the expert.

Well; sometimes I do the same thing, in other matters. Humans often follow our hearts rather then our heads.

Intersting. It's been 12 years and I'm still waiting for the pictures of any dead mink. Funny how they couldn't produce them for the judge when he asked. So, I guess our expert was right.

Any theories why no wildlife experts have stepped forward and pubically stated releasing domestcated mink into the wild is good for the mink?

Here's one theory which says it could be bad. But let's back up for a moment. How about we stop breeding domestic mink for fur. Then we'd have no worries, eh? Makes sense to me. Also would keep AR's out of jail. And those mink farmers? They could do something more reputable. Tomatoes.



Fewer wild minks: Birds do it, bees do it, and minks really, really do it. That's why it's a bad idea for animal rights activists to free horny domestic animals from mink farms.

The result could be rampant cross-breeding between domestic and wild mink, genetically weakening the wild population, as has happened already with farmed salmon escaping into the ocean.

Sure enough, biologists from Sudbury's Laurentian University found that two out of three mink running wild in some southern Ontario locations were actually either domestic mink or domestic-wild hybrids.

The locations, in Essex County and the municipality of Niagara, have been home to mink ranches for two decades, so there was a good chance of mink escaping and crossbreeding

To test the hypothesis, biology researcher Anne Kidd applied a sophisticated genetics ancestry test to 50-plus mink live-trapped there. In one area, only one in five was actually wild, while in the other, barely more than half were.

In the current issue of the journal Molecular Ecology, Kidd and her colleagues warn that such hybridization can lessen survival chances of the wild population by introducing inbred genes from the domestic population. As well, farmed mink are prone to Aleutian disease, an often-fatal virus, which could spread to the wild.

A Bigger Bang: It's not just the fingers of guitarists like the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood that are synchronized – their brainwaves are as well, according to researchers in Germany.

EEG readings from eight pairs of guitarists wired up to an electroencephalograph revealed that patterns of electrical activity in their brains became more and more closely yoked as they repeated a jazz-fusion melody dozens of times.

But the researchers couldn't say whether the brain synchronization occurs first and shapes the co-ordinated strumming or vice-versa, whether watching the other performer and listening helps pull the brainwaves into sync.

The strongest synchronization patterns were measured in the frontal and central regions of the brain, says the report in a forthcoming issue of the journal BMC Neuroscience.

Sun and sweat: When the Clyde Beatty Circus set up in the open fields at Islington Ave. and Rexdale Blvd. in July 1955, the posters advertised "Big Otto – Blood Sweating Hippopotamus from the River Nile."

It wasn't really blood; it was hippo sweat, a red granular secretion that shields the wallowing animals from the equatorial sun's ultraviolet rays.

Now a group of U.S. researchers has worked out how this nature-made protection works. University of California engineering professor Christopher Vinney says the outcome could be a four-in-one manufactured product, combining hippo sweat properties of sunscreen, sunblock, antiseptic and insect repellent.

After analyzing hippo sweat collected at a Fresno zoo, Vinney and colleagues found that the oily secretion is composed of two types of liquid crystalline structures.

One combines sun-screening and sun-blocking properties. The other makes the sweat less viscous so it spreads easily and evenly over the hippo's huge hide.

The findings are published in the current issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/606242

Well, Thanx for the first part of that article, Grace.

Not sure I'm up to sweaty hippos and Keith Richards in the same article, though.

How about people stop trying to control the lives of others based on their emotional wants? Our country would be far better off. If there were no demand for fur then animals wouldn't be bred for fur. As long as they are enforce the anti cruelty laws there are already. We don't need more that are crafted by those who want to ban all animals.

How does this work for mink in the UK grace?

What? Once mink arrive in England, they lose the desire to reproduce?

That must suck.

Fur farms are illegal in the United Kingdom.

You know I'm getting sick of this emotional card you keep showing. You married?

It is what it is. Personally I don't like fur farms and a lot of other things but I won't support a move to ban them by yet another faction that wants to control people's lives. Who am I or anyone else to say what I value is more important that what someone else values?

You didn't answer my question. So you don't like fur farms, but to spite AR's you'll take an apathetic or rebellious position. Why not separate yourself from AR's and be yourself? Stand up for what you believe in regardless who else believes in it? I certainly don't associate or allign my beliefs with AR's because they happen to be similar. They're mine. Period.

As far as emotions, they're the foundation of our society - famlily and procreation of our race. Emotions aren't a bad thing. They're an integral part of our being.

He might be a wildlife expert who would proclaim the mink release as a good thing.

Well speaking for myself, it has nothing to do with spiteing ARs but has everything to do with fuck fascists and everyone who looks like 'em.

And so far as the emotions thing....hey let's just embrace hatred.

I know I didn't answer one question.

I am myself. I don't take my positions to spite ARs I do it because I can't be that cavalier with other people's lives or rights. I have the same contempt for environmental extremists. They're another faction that want power and control.

Democraps and Rethuglicans also.

So, in the end, the animals don't count.

Let's see - who would I consult - someone who might be an expert or one who actually is an expert.

Typical AR bull$hit - "if you don't believe as we do then you don't care about animals". I expected another vacuous response.




You would consult someone who would tell you what you wanted to hear. I know the game all too well.

rpedog

Well supposedly they get accused of the same thing...that they don't care about the animals. It's a vicious cycle.




rpedog


I can't help but wonder how you came to be so bitter. Something happened during your prior involvement. Something that affected you quite emotionally.

LOL! Its called being a realist not being bitter. Its human nature to seek out opinions or theories that will bolster your own. We've all done it.

You care more about what AR's are doing than you do about any animal. Your life is consumed with such hate for a 'group'. Every post you write confirms that.

Oh, btw, you forget - our expert was right. Guess you don't know the 'game'.