![\"Rancher](\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/captivemink7.jpg\")
Rancher Kirk Rankin of RBR Fur Farms near St. Mary’s, Ont., holds on to one of his minks in his barns last summer after intruders broke in and released over 6,000 of them. A similar break-in occurred in Brant County overnight.<\/p><\/div>\n
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BRANT COUNTY, ONT.\u2014Police are investigating what they\u2019re calling an act of vandalism \u2014 and what a farm spokesperson is calling an act of animal-rights extremism \u2014 after some 500 minks were set loose in southwestern Ontario overnight Friday.<\/p>\n
Early Saturday morning, police were called to the Brant County, Ont., farm. It had been broken into \u2014 holes were cut into the walls, and the mink inside were set loose, investigators said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like an organized attack by animal-rights extremists who have attacked many farms in southern Ontario in the last several years,\u201d said Nancy Daigneault, vice-president of the International Fur Federation. \u201cThey break into a farm at night and they open all the cages to release the minks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daigneault said that last year, a self-identified animal rights group made threats against the farm. She said the threats were reported to police.<\/p>\n
But police wouldn\u2019t say whether there\u2019s anything that suggests activists were involved in this case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The farm owner declined an interview, but said that Daigneault was his spokesperson.<\/p>\n
The affected farm is one of about 300 fur farms in Canada, according to Statistics Canada, and mink is the most popular farmed fur.<\/p>\n
Daigneault said most of the animals were recovered, but many of them had recently given birth. The newborns, called kits, were separated from their mothers, she said.<\/p>\n
Const. Ken Johnston of the OPP said there\u2019s no guarantee the babies would be able to find their way back to their mothers to nurse, and Daigneault added that even if they could, there\u2019s no guarantee the babies could survive the trauma of separation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe farmer\u2019s saying he thinks they may lose three-quarters of the babies,\u201d Johnston said. \u201cI think that whoever did this, that should weigh heavy on their conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police are continuing their investigation, and they\u2019re asking anyone with information to come forward.<\/p>\n