At least 100 mink were freed from cages at a fur farm in Keota, Iowa early on August 30. According to a police spokesperson (as reported on Animal Liberation Frontline), “It looked like someone had opened the lids on the cages and let them run out.”
By Peter Young
AnimalLiberationFrontline
Sep 04, 2013
In the fourth fur farm raid in just over a month, 100 mink are released in Keota, Iowa.
Police were called to a rural Iowa mink farm at 5:30 Friday morning, responding to a call about “loose animals.” Police blocked off the road and began to roundup the over 100 mink that had been released sometime overnight. A police spokesperson described the scene:
“It looked like someone had opened the lids on the cages and let them run out.”
As with another recent fur farm raid in neighboring Illinois, there has been no claim of responsibility so far.
The animals were reportedly kept in cages “in plain sight of the road.” No graffiti or other indicators of a motive were left behind, and police are investigating the incident as a “prank.”
“We don’t see any signs of an animal rights group at this time… This looks like a prank at this point.”
However they may not be aware that this the fourth animal liberation action in a three-state area in the three weeks, making it highly unlikely this is anything but the work of animal liberators.
Surge of activity in the Midwest
In the month of August, there were four actions in the three-state Iowa-Wisconsin-Illinois area, with the latest occurring just four days before this latest incident.
On August 24th, the Animal Liberation Front took credit for flooding the home of a North American Fur Auction executive by placing a running hose through his window.
On August 14th, 2,000 mink were released from a fur farm in Morris, Illinois. The raid has so far gone unclaimed.
And on August 10th, “Iowans for Animal Liberation” took credit for throwing red paint on the iconic “Butter Cow,” a fixture of the Iowa State Fair for over 100 years.
With four actions in three weeks, and 75% of them targeting the fur industry, this latest incident is unlikely to be a “prank.”
The farm in question
According to the website Final Nail, the fur farm targeted was:
Don Conrad
1109 190th Street
Keota, IA 52248
Phone: (641) 636-3858
Iowa remains a center of activity
Fur farms in Iowa are far and away the most targeted by the Animal Liberation Front, with 10 farms raided since 1997. Other ALF actions in Iowa have included the rescue of birds on two occasions from Double T Farms, a breeder of birds for vivisection (both claimed by the Animal Liberation Front), and the raid at the University of Iowa in 2004, in which 401 animals were rescued.
This activity prompted a newspaper in Waterloo Iowa to do a three-part series on animal liberation activity in the state recently, referring to the University of Iowa raid the state’s “most notorious,” and the throwing of red paint on the Butter Cow a “terroristic act.’ (police quote)
Recently, police near Keota took to staking out a proposed horse slaughterhouse in nearby Sigourney, fearing animal rights activists would burn it down.
Apparently they were staking out the wrong target.