Mass Release of Minks Goes Horribly Wrong

Between 30,000 and 40,000 farm-raised minks were released into the wild near Eden Valley, Minnesota, earlier this week when burglars—presumably animal rights activists—cut the fence to a mink-pelt farm and opened the cages holding the mammals, letting them run into the wild. Minks are strange little creatures somewhere between otters and ferrets, and when they run, their front halves and back halves teeter independently like two people pretending to be one horse. While the idea of tens of thousands of minks flopping through a pasture is quite amusing, the minks’ liberation likely came at a price: Farm-raised minks aren’t really able to make it in the wild. Many of the minks died once released because of the heat. The ones that were recovered alive were haphazardly thrown into pens, which disrupted their social groupings and drove the minks to kill one another.

I wonder when those crazy 'Animal Rights' groups are going to realize that releasing domestic and non-native animals into the wild is never a good idea?


www.slate.com...

Another Stolen dream.

this is one of those situations where a little bit of knowledge is dangerous, not to the people who posses that little bit of knowledge but to the minks who are released by those people who posses a little bit of knowledge.

There was plenty of wild minks around here in my swamp and down by the river. Not so much these days. I believe there are a number of fur trappers as well. They are quite the predator and will eat almost anything alive. If they were released around here most wouldn't have lasted more than a season IMO.

a reply to: Grik123

Well, for the activists that were there during that initial pandemonium, it had to be one hell of a sight!



All that much excitement going down has to be an down right addictive experience, which might explain how its an annual affair by the looks of GooTube.

a reply to: Grik123

Apparently these activists never heard the parable of trying to save fish from drowning.

Basically, don't mess with sheet.

Any poultry farm nearby would have become a slaughter pen.
Mink can get inside almost any enclosure and 20,000+ hungry animals released in to the wild would destroy the local ecology.

originally posted by: Asktheanimals
Any poultry farm nearby would have become a slaughter pen.
Mink can get inside almost any enclosure and 20,000+ hungry animals released in to the wild would destroy the local ecology.

Humans using animals as pawns to retaliate against other humans.

The logic escapes me.

But, as they say--two wrongs don't make a right. Everybody's guilty here.

Wah-wwah-wah-wahhhhh......

The ones that were recovered alive were haphazardly thrown into pens, which disrupted their social groupings and drove the minks to kill one another.

Kind of exactly like tossing radical Islamist refugees into Europe.

That's just media spin. All animals want to live and be free.

Minks stink.

they dont see the bigger picture .
by farming fer animals you reduce the ones killed in the wild and may be saving it from extinction .
people will use fer no amount of laws or protest will change that so alest this way you can control how many are killed in the wild

originally posted by: Grik123

I wonder when those crazy 'Animal Rights' groups are going to realize that releasing domestic and non-native animals into the wild is never a good idea?

Yeah... people don't really understand that many times captivity is about conservation. Yes it's cruel to cage a bird... but if that bird was a Hyacinth macaw bred in captivity and the keepers got tired of it.... where is that bird supposed to go? It sure can't go in the wild... although maybe some people are of the opinion that it should have the chance (even if it has absolutely NO chance of survival)

Lot's of animals at conservation parks and zoos have been seized from illegal pet owners (tigers and lions as pets, according to some Zookeepers I've talked with, is in fact... a much more popular thing that people realize.)

I'd be curious to see some information on when the last time an animal was actually caught in the wild and then put in a zoo.

a reply to: MarkOfTheV

The worst thing about pet tigers and lions and other endangered species like them is that since their breeding cannot be verified, they cannot them be put in a zoo and contribute to the zoo's captive breeding program, so many of them cannot go into zoos, not the main ones. They have to go into animal sanctuaries and the smaller zoos that aren't participants in the major, carefully managed captive breeding programs because the space is very tight, so animals that can't participate can't be kept there.

originally posted by: TinfoilTP

The ones that were recovered alive were haphazardly thrown into pens, which disrupted their social groupings and drove the minks to kill one another.

Kind of exactly like tossing radical Islamist refugees into Europe.

One thing they don't do much of in Europe is kill each other.

They find natives easier targets, especially the women.