For Immediate Release
Granite Falls, WA: In a communique received yesterday by the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) took credit for the release of 400 mink this month from Beck’s Fur farm in Granite Falls, Washington.
The communique reads, in full:
In the early hours September 9th 2010 the ALF paid a visit to the Beck’s fur farm in Granite Falls, WA. Thanks to the news reports we know that we released aprox. 400 of the mink there and all we can say is that it wasn’t enough. We wish that there had been time that night to free all the prisoners that hell hole contains. We are heart broken for everyone left behind but take solace in the fact that we will do better the next time. This action is dedicated to one who will only be known as x/one blue/one brown/all heart/x –ALF
Harvey Beck had reported an earlier attempted raid of his farm in the summer of 1997. No animals were reported to have been released in that incident. According to the fur farm directory The Blueprint , Granite Falls is home to two known mink farms: The Jeff Craggs fur farm, and Beck’s Mink Farm. Images of the farms can be viewed online here: Becks Mink Farm. and Becks Mink Farm . The largest mink release in the state occurred in 2003, when 10,000 mink were released from the Roesler Brothers Fur Farm in nearby Sultan, Washington.
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 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.