Posted on 08/27/2003 7:25:46 PM PDT by bicycle thug
SULTAN, Wash. (AP) - Snohomish County mink farmers, who produce almost half the mink raised in Washington, worry there will be more ecoterrorism attacks like Monday's release of about 10,000 animals from a family farm here.
``These farmers are on pins and needles,'' said Teresa Platt, executive director of the industry group Fur Commission USA. ``People should be on alert because the pattern with these groups is to hit again and in a short period of time.''
The FBI, which is leading the investigation, suspects an out-of-state group is responsible for the mink release at the Roesler Brothers Fur Farm off U.S. Highway 2.
The American Liberation Front, considered a domestic terrorist group by the FBI, claimed responsibility for the release in an e-mail sent to local media.
FBI and Sultan police officials said that they had not yet received that notification, but suspect an animal-rights group orchestrated the event.
The Animal Enterprise Protection Statute, passed in the 1990s, makes it illegal for people to travel or communicate interstate for the purpose of disrupting an animal enterprise, FBI spokeswoman Roberta Burroughs said.
A reward of $100,000 has been posted by the fur commission for information leading to the arrests and convictions of those responsible.
About four farms in Snohomish County produced 56,000 pelts in 2001, according to the latest Agriculture Department data. Washington is home to 15 mink farms and had a production of more than 113,000 pelts in 2001. At $40 a pelt, the industry is worth about $4.5 million to the state, which is one of the nation's top 10 producers.
There were few leads and no witnesses to Monday's release, Sultan Police Chief Fred Walser said.
All but about 1,000 were believed to have been recaptured Monday, and most were back in their cages Tuesday with help from dozens of volunteers.
``We are very, very thankful for their support,'' said Brad Roesler, the farm's co-owner.
Dead mink could be seen Tuesday along Highway 2 and near the farm entrance, and Roesler farm employees estimated about 200 had been killed by cars or dogs, or died of dehydration.
Roesler told The Herald of Everett he is not sure how costly the damage of the break-in will be, but noted he plans to install an electronic security system. He said he worked about 16 hours Monday, fixing about 50 feet of metal fence at the back of the 15-acre farm and chasing down wriggling stragglers.
The fur commission estimated the damage at $500,000, based on the cost of similar incidents at other farms. The commission said that would include the lost pelts, damaged pelts from stressed animals and lost production from breeding minks that had been in separate pens.
ALF has struck mink farms and related businesses in the area before. Nationwide, the group has conducted more than 600 attacks since 1996, according to the FBI.
Mink farmers contend their farm-raised mink cannot survive in the wild, but animal activists disagree.
``We think that being forced to live a life in those cages followed by an extremely traumatic death is the true cruelty,'' said veterinarian Andrew Knight, director of research at the Seattle-based Northwest Animal Rights Network. The group is not affiliated with the ALF.
``They got their first taste of freedom in their entire lives. Thousands of them will not be recaptured and will successfully create new lives in their environment or they will die in ways involving infinitely less suffering,'' he said.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
You can't really call it closing the barn door after the horse has escaped, I suppose--but this fella should have known better, with previous episodes serving as fair warning. Has he never heard of guard dogs? Feed them minks--he'd end up ahead.
SEATTLE TIMES.com: "10,000 MINK RELEASED FROM SULTAN FARM CAGES" by Christopher Schwarzen and Jennifer Sullivan, Times Snohomish County bureau (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Roesler said the cages were opened sometime between midnight and 4 a.m. He estimated about half of his 22,000 mink never left their cages. "When I got up there, there was mink all over," Walser said. "One bit me. It felt like a sewing machine; their teeth are pretty sharp." The Animal Liberation Front (ALF), an international animal-rights group which the FBI says is responsible for more than 600 crimes nationally since 1996, claimed responsibility for the attack in an e-mail sent to local media.") (August 26, 2003) (Read More...)
Do you think the reporter purposely used "American" instead of "Animal"?
Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
Don't know, but the targets of animal rights vandals do have legitimate reason to fear for their lives, and this alone would justify lethal force in response to ALF attacks. Animal rights fanatics have already murdered 2 people in the Netherlands, libertarian politician Pim Fortuyn and state environmental inspector Chris Van der Werken, and this may only be the tip of the iceberg. They have come very close to killing several researchers and their families in the United States. It might be interesting for someone to do a statistical analysis of unsolved and mysterious deaths of farmers and ranchers and correlate this to ALF activity in the same area.
Another very likely outcome of all this, and one which has not received enough attention imo, is that one or more ALF terrorists will someday be killed in the act. It will be interesting to see how local authorities respond to this when it does happen. In an area with a strong LLL presence, we might see left-pandering authorities try to stage a show-trial, with the entire range of left moonbattery in full support.
There is a natural affinity between these people and the terror-accomplices, the so-called "peace movement," and this is no secret at all. Authoritarianism is the common denominator and like attracts like in this case. ALF wackos, like Islamo-fascists and the full range of lefty moonbats, seek to decide policy and law for all and to use violence and coercion to enforce their decrees.
All businesses need to install and upgrade to the latest and best video equipment available to capture better photos of these thugs...
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