{"id":2105,"date":"2013-06-15T09:53:09","date_gmt":"2013-06-15T17:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/?p=2105"},"modified":"2017-08-18T11:20:06","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T19:20:06","slug":"magic-valley-mink-farmers-on-alert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/2013\/06\/15\/magic-valley-mink-farmers-on-alert\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic Valley Mink Farmers on Alert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Magic Valley.com
\nBy Mychel Matthews – mmatthews@magicvalley.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"captivemink\"<\/a><\/p>\n

BURLEY \u2022 Local mink farmers are keeping a low profile since a recent \u201ccall to action\u201d posted online by the radical Animal Liberation Front.<\/p>\n

The ALF on June 1 released the fourth edition of its 58-page instruction manual, \u201cThe Final Nail: Complete Guide to Destroying the Fur Industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Final Nail is a blueprint for committing a felony,\u201d said Michael Whelan, executive director of Fur Commission USA based in Oregon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s terrorism \u2014 that\u2019s exactly what it is,\u201d Whelan said. Some mink farmers sleep with \u201cguns by their bedsides. This is their livelihood being threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Magic Valley is home to 10 mink farms, and Idaho has 19 others, notes an ALF news release.<\/p>\n

All 10 local farms are on ALF\u2019s self-described hit list.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Final Nail\u2019s directory lists every mink farm in every state \u2014 including a \u201cmost wanted\u201d list of targets.<\/p>\n

The list details specifics about each business, with a guide to the farms\u2019 security measures, instructions on how to avoid getting caught, addresses and clear directions to mink sheds and other specifics to help saboteurs.<\/p>\n

The manual targets mink farms almost exclusively, as a large number of animals can be released quickly.<\/p>\n

The Final Nail promises \u201cto spark a wave of attacks and \u2018animal liberations\u2019 at fur farms nationwide,\u201d the ALF news release said.<\/p>\n

The anonymous \u201cactivists behind the Final Nail are not carrying out the raids themselves – they know better,\u201d said Whelan. The writers are trying to incite illegal activity. They target young, impressionable kids looking for a cause, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(These kids) are not heroes,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to local fur farms, the hit list includes Jack Rose, a physiology professor at Idaho State University. Rose occasionally conducts medical research on minks at his lab at the university\u2019s Department of Biological Sciences in Pocatello.<\/p>\n

The Final Nail is not new, Rose noted. \u201cIt\u2019s been a problem for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he hadn\u2019t known he was listed in the new directory of targets. But shutting down animal lab research would \u201cset medicine back 100 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ALF website boasts that the Final Nail has raided 93 fur farms nationally since its inception in 1996, resulting in the liberation of 130,000 animals.<\/p>\n

Rose said releasing domesticated animals into the wild is not an act of liberation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are domestic animals, not wild, and they can\u2019t fend for themselves,\u201d he said. Most released mink will die within days if not recaptured.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the U.S. fur trade is bigger than ever, Whelan said. More than 3 million pelts were harvested last year, bringing $350 million to mink producers. Most of the country\u2019s furs go to China, he said.<\/p>\n

ALF claims its greatest success was in 2000, when 14,000 mink were released from a fur farm in New Hampton, Iowa.<\/p>\n

Closer to home, 5,000 mink were turned loose from a fur farm in Preston, Idaho, in 1997, and 7,000 more were released at a farm in Kayesville, Utah, in 2008, according to the Final Nail.<\/p>\n

Releasing mink from cages is not the only way to sabotage a fur farm, say the Front Nail writers. ALF also encourages activists to interrupt the farm\u2019s food supply and to destroy breeding records.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Animal Liberation Front has also caused tens of millions of dollars of damage to property being used to destroy life, by continuing an effective campaign of \u2018economic sabotage\u2019,\u201d wrote the authors.<\/p>\n

While the author\u2019s rights are protected by the First Amendment, acts of sabotage against animal farms are a felony under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, signed into law in 2006.<\/p>\n

Cassia County Sheriff Jay Heward said he plans to talk with local fur farmers about taking additional steps to protect their property.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would recommend installing more lights out in the yard and putting locks on buildings,\u201d Heward said. \u201cDo whatever it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twin Falls County Sheriff Tom Carter said he has talked to local fur farmers in the past about the potential for attacks. He recommends the farmers stay vigilant and report any suspicious activity.<\/p>\n

ALF claims the longest sentence served for a mink release is 2\u00bd years.<\/p>\n

The fur industry refutes many claims made by the radicals and calls their manual a \u201cterrorist\u2019s handbook.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnimal rights zealots continue to make sensational accusations against the fur industry…,\u201d says the Fur Commission USA\u2019s website. \u201cTheir goal is to destroy the livelihoods and reputations of hundreds of family farmers, but their claims have no basis in fact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Magic Valley.com By Mychel Matthews – mmatthews@magicvalley.com BURLEY \u2022 Local mink farmers are keeping a low profile since a recent \u201ccall to action\u201d posted online by the radical Animal Liberation Front. The ALF on June 1 released the fourth edition of its 58-page instruction manual, \u201cThe Final Nail: Complete Guide to Destroying the Fur Industry.\u201d … <\/p>\n

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