Thousands of 'Liberated' Minks Rounded Up

[saigon68]

SEATTLE (Reuters) - More than 9,000 minks set free from a Sultan, Washington, fur farm by an animal liberation group this week were back in their pens but hundreds more were still roaming the nearby woods, police said.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=3344569

Critics say releasing domesticated minks is more inhumane than killing them for fur, arguing that the caged animals are ill-equipped to survive in the wild, even in the rich woodlands of western Washington.

"They found four or five squashed on the highway," Wasler said. "A lot of them just milled around the open cages."

[JPace]

1. To free them without....

taking responsibility for their care
was not a kind act. Getting run over
by a car, starving to death or attacked
and eaten by other animals is no better
than being farmed. They were not "wild"
and must feel rather terrified without
the skills to care for themselves.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

4. I am active...

on animal rights issues and I agree with you wholeheartenly.

That was not a kinder thing to do for those animals.

[Neutrino]

7. Unless you compare it to having an electrode stuck up

their butt after being manhandled on their way to this grisly
"euthanasia" so some dumb bitch can wear it to build up self-esteem.

Sorry, a sensitive topic for this PETA Member.

[saigon68]

13. Not all Fur is worn by Womyn

I do agree with you though, it is mostly a vanity thing. Not a good thing for these animals.

[BiggJawn]

27. What's a "Womyn"?

I thought that term went out of style many moons and winters ago.

And would that make me a "Myn"?
What would you call a female Human? a "Humyn"?

Sorry, but that was one of the most stupid words ever coined.

[AlexanderBarca]

18. I think you have the wrong idea,

I don't think that anyone here condones the breeding, engineering, and killing of these animals for their fur. Rather, they are saying that the minks will suffer and die horrible deaths if you release them, just as horrible as if the furiers did it. Instead of releasing domesticated animals into the wild (hurting the animals and looking like total nutcases in the process), these groups should spend more time influencing legislation.

[piece sine]

21. legislation for what? to ban animal husbandry?!

Plenty of laws are already on the books and those doofus "activists" that released the minks trespassed onto private property and stole a valuable commodity. They broke laws already on the books.

Minks are weasels, folks. Nothing more; nothing less. They certainly aren't worth debasing DU and ourselves by called women "Dumb Bitches" as a previous respondent did.

Farm raised weasels can't just move back into into wilderness; better to leave them alone, whereever they are raised. Don't like mink -- don't buy one! I wouldn't wear any kind of fur; it's gross! But people are going to make their own choices and tolerating choices not of your own is what makes a person an open-minded LIBERAL.

[WillParkinson]

23. Also liberal...

And I disagree with you.

We generally agree that everyone should be allowed to make their own choices but that does not mean we have to like the choices they make and don't have to condone or accept them without trying to change them.

I think people who wear fur ARE dumb bitches. Well, OK, maybe not bitches but still dumb.

As far as them being 'weasels' and nothing more some of us do care for animals even if they are 'just' weasels.

[Northwind]

25. Domestically raised minks cannot survive in the wild, PERIOD.

Setting them loose as they did was a death sentence for them. Looks like the ALF folks were no better than the furriers in this one (shock!).

[Hell Hath No Fury]

26. Peta member as well...

It was irresponsible on so many levels for whomever did this to release those animals into the wild -- if they were honestly carrying out an action for the betterment of those minks they should have insured that each one of those animals they freed would have had a permanent, safe environment to live out the rest of their lives. THAT is what true rescue is about -- it's not about opening a cage and damn whatever happens to those critters afterwards. Sorry, that sounds a bit too much like those who care about a fetus until the moment it's out of the womb.

My sister is extensively involved with rescuing domestic rabbits, including those from breeders who keep them in horrific conditions. She wouldn't dream of taking a caged, domesticated animal and just dumping it in the wild -- that animal wouldn't stand a chance in the wild and it could have a serious impact on the environment and wildlife of the area it was dumped.

[karlschneider]

15. Yes. I live on a lake 30 miles from Tulsa...people from "somewhere"

routinely bring unwanted pets out to our lakeside community and dump them out, probably from a misguided sense (or so I'd prefer to believe) that someone will 'adopt' them. Well, many of us do - we have 2 dogs and a cat that appeared, and nearly everyone around here has at least one but we can only take so many. Those not lucky enough to survive starvation, roadkill and being 'cute' are the majority. As hard as it is to do, we resort to shooting many of them. (There is no animal pound/shelter in this county.)

:-(

[NickB79]

2. And the ones that do survive

Will play hell killing the native songbird and small mammal population. Wonderful job there, you end up killing MORE animals than you freed, and possibly in an even more inhumane way. Smart.

[bicentennial_baby]

3. True

Minks are vicious...I know this from personal experience, unfortunately...

[Neutrino]

8. Minks are not vicious, they are minks.

Animals don't have to be "friendly" to deserve not to be
tortured and killed. Don't know what your experience is
but Oprah Winfrey owns a few of them that don't bite her.

[kwolf68]

11. Good post

So few people really understand animals. Sadly, in this day and age animals continue to be used for our pleasures, our desires, for entertainment, to kill, to cull, to eradicate, persecute and push into extinction or to prevent from going into extinction if a profit can be derived from it.

Gov George Pataki just vetoes a canned hunting bill (that the state of NY wanted), the sale of fur is on the rise, hip hop and rock videos of full of furs, Jennifer Lopez has fox fur EYELASHES for gods sakes, hunting shows liter ESPN and ESPN2 during the times children are at home, etc…

When God gave Man dominion over animals (the interpretation has been screwed by the right), just what in the fuck was he thinking?

[BiggJawn]

12. I'll bet Oprah owns DOZENS of mink that "don't bite".

Hanging in her closet, or maybe they spend the summer in the vault at her furrier's store?

[saigon68]

17. They could be tanning at the beach

In the summer

[bicentennial_baby]

16. Excuse me

I live in an area where minks are indigenous, and I have seen my cat ripped open by one.

Btw, I am a member of PETA and a vegetarian.

[NickB79]

19. No one equated "vicious" and "deserve to be killed"

Wild and feral mink, compared to other predators, are pretty vicious in the sense that they can inflict a lot of damage for such a small animal. Furthermore, unlike many predators, wild/feral mink and ferrets will often kill many more prey animals than needed for food (similar to housecats that hunt and don't eat the birds and rodents they catch). That doesn't mean they deserve to be killed for their fur, but it does jive with my comment that released mink can be devastating for native wildlife. A introduced predator that will kill dozens more animals than it needs to eat every week will quickly have a very negative effect on the wildlife.

[Neutrino]

9. That's the way God made wild life. He had not heard

about animal social engineering. Chaos Theory--sensitive dependence
on initial conditions.

[NickB79]

20. Not when they are not native to the area

Whether you believe in Creation or evolution, introducing non-native predators into an area is never good. God may have made the minks the way they are, but He did so in their native range. When man screws things up and introduces them somewhere they shouldn't be, all hell breaks lose in the woods.

[MostlyBlackCat2]

5. 28 days later

that's all I can think of.

Anyone else seen that film?

[realFedUp]

6. free range minks...

who still buys these things?

[SOS]

22. Hip people

stopped wearing fur about 15 years ago. Only the wives of South American dictators and Texas Republican women still wear this stuff. If you are stupid enough to wear such a coat in Manhattan you will be instantly pegged as a rich tourist, ripe for a purse-snatching.

[Abaques]

10. This does more harm then good.

These kinds of actions generally do more harm then good for the animal rights crowd.

[Don_G]

14. Minks On The Run....

Minks on the run
And Jailor Dan
And Sailor Sam
Couldn't lock them up
We have Minks on the run....

It's a bad idea to allow engineered and conditioned critters to escape into a natural environment; bad for the animals and potentially disasterous for the environment.

I think their efforts could be better directed in more constructive avenues.

[karlschneider]

24. More constructive venues.....absolutely. Such as prohibiting these people

from 'farming' these animals in the first place.

I do not have a huge problem with consuming animals, per se, as I enjoy the occasional T-bone myself, but I draw the line when it permits raising critters so they can be killed and skinned to make someone look "nice". It ain't nice.