{"id":13252,"date":"2022-11-16T09:54:35","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T17:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/?p=13252"},"modified":"2022-11-19T10:03:06","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T18:03:06","slug":"animal-activists-free-10000-minks-from-fur-farm-in-ohio-and-assert-they-can-survive-in-the-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/2022\/11\/16\/animal-activists-free-10000-minks-from-fur-farm-in-ohio-and-assert-they-can-survive-in-the-wild\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal Activists Free 10,000 Minks From Fur Farm in Ohio \u2014 and Assert They Can Survive in the Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Green Matters.com
\nBY\u00a0SOPHIE HIRSH<\/a><\/p>\n

When speaking about the animal agriculture industry (and its horrific impacts on the environment and animals), the focus is typically on those raised for the food system. But animals being used for fashion make up a significant portion of the cruel industry \u2014 which is why a group of animal activists just\u00a0released minks from a fur farm Ohio.<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know about this operation, the animal rights group behind it, and the fate of the estimated 10,000 minks who were released from the factory farm.<\/p>\n

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About 10,000 minks were just freed from an Ohio fur farm.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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During the early hours of Tuesday, Nov. 15, a group of animal rights activists allegedly with the group\u00a0Animal Liberation Front<\/a>\u00a0broke into the\u00a0Lion Farms USA Mink Farm<\/a>\u00a0in Hoaglin Township, a tiny township in Van Wert County, Ohio, as reported by\u00a0FOX 2 Detroit.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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According to a Facebook post from\u00a0Van Wert County Sheriff’s Office<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday morning, some fencing around the farm was torn down, and the activists freed between 25,000 and 40,000 minks from the cages they had been forced to live in.\u00a0By the afternoon<\/a>, the Sheriff estimated that only 10,000 minks were actually missing. All of these minks would have otherwise been\u00a0killed for their fur<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Sheriff Thomas Riggenbach stated that as the minks ran away from the farm, so many were killed that officials had to use a snow plow to clear the dead bodies, as per\u00a0ABC News<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0However,\u00a0ALF refuted that claim<\/a>, noting that Lion Farms is located in a rural area with very little traffic. And, even if the freed mink were to be killed by a passing car, animal control, or a natural predator, they would be suffering the same fate as they would have in the factory farm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Additionally, the Sheriff warned that once-captive minks do not have the needed survival skills to make it in the wild; however, ALF believes this is false. A 2009 study published by\u00a0Animal Liberation Frontline<\/a>\u00a0and Oxford University concluded that \u201cfarm-raised mink retain their wild instincts, and when released, can reassimilate successfully into their native habitat.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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That said, the Sheriff\u2019s Office is investigating the incident, and warning locals that minks are carnivorous animals, and can put other local wildlife, domesticated animals, and livestock at risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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