The Canadian Mink Breeders Association is offering $100,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of animal rights activists who are blamed for breaking into two Ontario mink farms this year.
An unknown number of people broke into a mink farm near St. Marys, Ont., July 7 and released approximately 6,000 mink.
The activists gained access to the farm by cutting down four sections of a wire fence that surrounded the mink containment facilities. Culprits then removed hundreds of nesting boxes that contained juvenile mink and put them on the ground, allowing the animals to roam free.
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Gary Hazlewood, executive director of the mink breeders association, said most of the mink that were released have since been recovered by association president Kirk Rankin, who was the targeted farmer.
However, the incident highlights the need for improved security on Canadian mink farms and stiffer penalties for animal rights activists who cause damage to personal property.
The mink, most of them juveniles around two months old, were on solid food but would have had little or no chance of surviving in the wild, Hazlewood said.
“The people who did this should be charged with animal cruelty,” he said.
“It may be time to consider much more serious penalties for people who invade farms for ideological purposes, like they have done in the United States.”
The July incident was the second in less than two months involving a mink farm in southwestern Ontario.
On May 31, another farm in the St Mary’s area was also targeted by activists.
In that incident, nursing female mink were released, resulting in the death of a number of suckling kits.
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) claimed responsibility for that incident.
Although most of the animals released in the July incident have been recovered, 50 are either dead or unaccounted for.
“We picked up a few dead ones that first day, and I think we’ve lost about eight more since,” Rankin said.
He estimated that the attack will cost his farm at least $5,000, which does not include the cost of installing a new security system to prevent future incidents.
Information on the animals’ pedigree was also lost, meaning the farm’s breeding program will be set back significantly.
The Canadian mink farming industry raises more than 3.5 million farmed mink a year. The current value of an adult animal is about $60.
China and South Korea are the key export markets for Canadian mink.
“If you don’t want to wear fur, that’s fine, don’t buy it,” said Rankin.
“But that doesn’t give you the right to dictate how everyone else should live. It doesn’t give you the right to break into people’s homes and terrorize farm families.”
Contact brian.cross@producer.com
