For Immediate Release
October 17, 2008
Operation Bite Back II: 1500 More Captive Mink Released
Raid on Oregon Fur Farm by Animal Liberationists is Seventh Since April
Astoria, Oregon – According to a communique received by the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, 1500 captive mink were released last night from a fur farm on Simonsen Road in Astoria, Oregon. The raid is the third in Oregon this year, and the seventh in North America this season. Together with raids in Washington, Utah and Canada reported since April, thousands of captive wild animals have been given the chance for freedom this year from profit-hungry breeders.
The communique reads, in part:
“About 1,500 mink were released from their cages with at least 200 of these being breeding stock. The fact that there is no fence around this farm should help ease their escape. I would like to close by offering apiece of advice to the owners of this farm, to the owners of the other farms in the Astoria, OR area (it was simply by luck of the draw that your farms weren’t chosen), and to ALL fur farmers: find a new profession. fur farmers are a dying breed. get out before you are forced out. “your laws will have no meaning past the setting of the sun.”
Imprisoned in cages for life, fur-bearing animals are forced to endure intensive confinement, compared to the miles of territory these animals would enjoy in the wild – their natural state. The natural instincts of these captive animals are completely frustrated; self-mutilation, sickness, infection, poor sanitation and the sheer stress of confinement lead animals to premature death. When they survive, animals of sufficient size are killed by anal electrocution or gassing, then skinned. Whereas reports from the fur industry have surfaced that liberations were harmful to the animals, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and other organizations have a long history of successfully releasing animals into the wild. In addition to liberating the wild animals destined for a certain, painful and agonizing death, another goal of liberationists is to cause economic damage to fur farms; dozens of fur farming operations have seen economic ruin since “Operation Bite Back” began by the ALF in the 1990s.
“The fur industry wants the public to believe that most of the mink liberated are recaptured or killed after being freed, but this is not the case; and I would argue that even if some are recaptured, at least they have been given a chance at what everyone deserves, a chance to live free” stated Camille Hankins, a Press Officer with the Animal Liberation Press Office. “Contrary to the rhetoric of those who profit from the imprisonment and killing of these beautiful, wild creatures, scientific studies have proven captive mink have the innate ability to survive in the wild, do not decimate other animal populations or the environment, and do not carry away small children or pets.”
To read the original communique, click here.