Claudia Cudworth
Toronto Sun
STRATFORD, Ont. — Unnamed activists are taking responsibility for releasing 1,600 mink — many of which died — from a farm near St. Marys, Ont., on the weekend. The North American Animal Liberation Press Office in California issued a release saying a “communique” was sent to them from unidentified activists describing what happened.
The vandalism was discovered about 6:30 a.m. Sunday when a mink was spotted on the front porch of a home near the barn where they were kept. Employees, family and other mink ranchers rounded up of the missing mink.
Jerry Vlasak, spokesperson for the Animal Liberation Press Office, said his organization has received hundreds of notifications from activists in the last 10 years, and he doesn’t have any reason to question the authenticity of this one.
The idea that animal rights activists are claiming responsibility for releasing the mink isn’t a surprise to farm owner Jeff Richardson. It’s what he believed happened to his mink right from the start. “This is what they do,” he said. “They’re looking for naive people to carry out acts of vandalism and terrorism.” The mink released from the farm were nursing mothers, which put 5,000 kits at risk of starvation, he noted.
Vlasak defended the actions of the activists. “They’ll be killed when it’s profitable for the fur farmer,” he said.
When the mink are released, even if they’re recaptured, it devastates the breeding at the farm, he said. In addition to releasing animals, the objective is destroy the farm economically so it will have to close down. Vlasak said activists have had some success in that area.
Without a doubt, there was damage at Glenwood, but Richardson said the damage is less than he anticipated. “I’m happy with how well the young are doing. I wasn’t expecting them to be as resilient as they were. I was expecting the losses to be much higher.”
Of the adult mink recaptured, about 80 died the first two nights, but on Tuesday night only six dies, he said. Ontario Provincial Police are investigating.