They found some in Hawaii.
Posted on 09/22/2003 11:08:32 AM PDT by bedolido
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- Unidentifed intruders released more than 7,000 minks from their cages in the middle of the night, the biggest raid on a mink farm in Finland, farmers and officials said Monday.
Police were alerted to the minks around 3 a.m. by a passer-by, Detective Chief Inspector Erkki Kerola said.
"We got a call from a person who said the area was swarming with minks," he told The Associated Press. "Local inhabitants, the fire brigade and others are helping catch them."
No one claimed responsibility for freeing the animals, which are used to make fur coats, Kerola said, but animal rights activists previously have released thousands of minks and foxes in 60 attacks on fur farms since 1995, claiming it's cruel to keep them in cages.
It was the first such raid on a farm in the region near Kokkola, 490 kilometers (30 miles) north of the capital, Helsinki.
"This was by far the biggest attack on a fur farm in this country," said Leif Finne, head of a fur farmer association. "The farm had almost 8,000 animals and all the cages were opened."
Some of the escaped minks were shot because they were injured.
"This is an ecological catastrophe," said Paivi Mononen-Mikkila, from Finnish Fur Sales. "Minks will eat most anything smaller than themselves so birds and other wildlife are in danger."
More than 5,000 people make a living from fur farming in Finland, the world's largest supplier of fox furs and Europe's third biggest producer of mink.
Last year, more than 2 million mink pelts were sold, mostly to overseas buyers.
In recent years, animal-rights groups have increased their activity in the Nordic region and thousands of mink have been set free in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
On Sept. 5, some 8,000 animals were freed from a farm near Ringkoebing in western Denmark. Farmers were able to catch all but 1,000 of them.
Danish police suspected animal rights activists because the Danish acronym for the Animal Liberation Front was painted on a wall at the farm. No one was arrested.
Denmark is the world's biggest exporter of mink pelts.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
A mink is a squirrel with a better outfit.
Once -- just once -- I would like to see a headline that read: "Freed minks turn on eco-terrorists. Two skeletons found next to fat, sleeping minks."
At least they died free (sniff.{sappy Lassy music in background})
Oh, by the way, these ALF types think freeing minks is a good thing and freeing Iraqis is not.
They found some in Hawaii.
A little shampoo and they make nice coats though ;-)
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...)
Two well dressed women meet at an upscale restaraunt.
1st woman:"Hi Darling. You look beautiful in that coat! Is it mink?"
2nd woman:"Yes Darling...of course its mink."
1st woman:"My My...well what did you do that was so special to get a coat like that?"
2nd woman:"The same thing a mink does Darling...the same thing a mink does."
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