{"id":3263,"date":"2015-08-06T08:39:08","date_gmt":"2015-08-06T16:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/?p=3263"},"modified":"2015-08-08T08:43:51","modified_gmt":"2015-08-08T16:43:51","slug":"rash-of-break-ins-at-mink-farms-in-southwestern-ontario-leaves-regions-fur-bearing-industry-on-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/2015\/08\/06\/rash-of-break-ins-at-mink-farms-in-southwestern-ontario-leaves-regions-fur-bearing-industry-on-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Rash of break-ins at mink farms in Southwestern Ontario leaves region\u2019s fur-bearing industry on edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"minkfarmer2\"<\/a>By Kate Dubinski
\nThe London Free Press
\nAlso appeared in the Star Phoenix
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Are they liberators or terrorists?<\/p>\n

Militant activists who free farmed animals have struck in Canada before, and there\u2019s speculation they could be behind three recent break-ins at mink farms in Southwestern Ontario.<\/p>\n

Anonymous activists have claimed responsibility for one of the Southwestern Ontario raids through a California-based organization, the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, that says it supports and encourages the Animal Liberation Front, an underground activist movement with a website.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe did get a communique about one of the liberations and we have not received anything for the subsequent two liberations, but that doesn\u2019t mean it is not the work of animal liberators,\u201d Jerry Vlasak of the North American Animal Liberation Press Office said Wednesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we support their actions. We support anything that inflicts economic sabotage on the people who profit from animal \u00adsuffering.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ontario Provincial Police in Wellington and Perth counties, where the three recent mink farm raids occurred, are working together to determine if they\u2019re connected, said OPP Const. Kees Wijnands. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at everything with the big picture in mind,\u201d Wijnands said. He said police don\u2019t know if the Animal Liberation Front is responsible for the recent attacks. \u201cThat\u2019s what everyone is saying, but we\u2019re not saying anything like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, mink farmers in Southwestern Ontario are stepping up security, he said.<\/p>\n

The Animal Liberation Front, Vlasak said, is \u201can underground animal liberation movement.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

But those targeted by that group, or other animal rights activists who break into farms and open cages to free fox and mink, have a different name for it. \u201cThis has been going on for years and years. They\u2019re a kind of terrorist organization,\u201d said Dave Bosma, a fur auctioneer for the last 35 years. \u201cThey release those animals and most of them get killed anyway. But by letting them lose, it\u2019s a statement and they get press.\u201d Bosma works for the Fur Harvester\u2019s Auction, which operates in North Bay. It\u2019s one of a number of organizations on a list the Animal Liberation Front publishes for its members.<\/p>\n

Mink, which can fetch as much as $150 a pelt at auction, depending on quality, are often targeted for \u201cliberation\u201d because activists say the animals can learn to survive on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe animals are capable of surviving in the wild and even if they won\u2019t, they at least have a chance of survival,\u201d said Vlasak. \u201cIn captivity, they have no chance of survival. They\u2019ll be taken out of their cages and anally electrocuted.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

But farmers say the mink can\u2019t survive on their own. \u201cMost of them don\u2019t go anywhere. The young have no clue what to do, so they just stand there or group together,\u201d said Gary Hazelwood, executive director of the Canadian Mink Breeders Association. \u201cThe assumption that the mink will go frolic in the woods and live happily ever after is false.\u201d Farmers who have had mink let out of cages often just have to turn on the feed machine and the animals will come back in anticipation of dinner.<\/p>\n

Hazelwood has had his own close encounter with animal liberators. In 1997, five Michigan people broke into a mink farm near Blenheim, releasing 1,500 pregnant mink. Many of the small, fur-\u00adbearing animals were recovered, but aborted their young and almost 500 others died. The five intruders were convicted or pleaded guilty to charges including break and enter, with penalties ranging from jail time to fines.<\/p>\n

Hazelwood said they had with them a list of mink farms in the area. The farm targeted, and two others \u2014 including Hazelwood\u2019s operation near St. Marys \u2014 were highlighted. \u201cI would call it a criminal act of trespassing, not liberation,\u201d Hazelwood said.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, another Southwestern Ontario fur farm was hit, with about 750 mink and 50 foxes released from an operation near Simcoe. The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility.<\/strong><\/p>\n

kate.dubinski@sunmedia.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter.com\/KateatLFPress<\/a><\/p>\n

– – –<\/p>\n

THE ATTACKS<\/strong><\/p>\n

May<\/strong>: Between 6 p.m. on May 30 and 8 a.m. on May 31, 1,600 female mink cages were opened on a commercial mink farm just east of St. Marys on Perth Line 9. A section of the chain link perimeter fence was cut and the barn was entered.<\/p>\n

About 1,000 of the animals were found. Many of the nursing babies died.<\/p>\n

July<\/strong>: Between 11 p.m. July 7 and 1 a.m. July 8, a wide opening was cut in a number of locations in a perimeter fence at a farm north of St. Marys, on the west side of Road 125.<\/p>\n

About 6,800 mink were released and many were subsequently found and gathered up.<\/p>\n

July<\/strong>: Between 10 p.m. July 30 and 4 a.m. July 31, about 300 mink were released from a barn in Wellington County, on Jones Baseline in Guelph-Eramosa Township. Most of the mink were recaptured.<\/p>\n

THE ANIMALS
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n