- SULTAN, Wash. - Days after
10,000 mink were released from a farm in southern Snohomish County, hundreds
of the animals not yet captured have converged on local farms in search
of food.
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- The animals had killed at least 25 exotic birds and attacked
other livestock in the area.
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- "Over half our livestock was shredded. Murdered.
Eaten alive," said Jeff Weaver, who discovered the dead birds on his
farm Thursday. "These are not like regular farm animals. They're our
pets."
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- Weaver, who breeds Indian Runner ducks and Banny chickens,
said his field was full of the animals Thursday morning.
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- "One of the mink had part of a chicken in its mouth
and was headed for the creek," he said. "They're starving. They'll
kill anything in their path."
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- The mink also killed Weaver's geese, chicken and ducks,
as well as wounded a dog and ate a 50-pound bag of bird feed. With an estimated
loss of $2,000, he said he plans to improve fences, set traps and, if necessary,
use a shotgun to fend off future assaults.
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- Diane and Joe Sallee are sealing their chickens in at
night after they found the mink had killed six hens and injured several
other that had to be euthanized.
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- "This has just devastated our chicken population.
We are just so upset by this," Diane Sallee said. "The people
who do these things don't think it through."
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- Animal activists argue that while the farm animals' deaths
are unfortunate, it proves minks raised in captivity can survive in the
wild.
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- "The amount of suffering that has been prevented
by releasing them from cramped cages and freeing them from an extremely
cruel death more than justifies a temporary disruption to the ecosystem,"
said veterinarian Andrew Knight, director of research at the Seattle-based
Northwest Animal Rights Network.
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- Owners of the mink farm from which the animals were released
estimate about 80 percent of the animals have been captured, leaving more
than 1,000 unaccounted for, said Teresa Platt, executive director of Fur
Commission USA. The commission is offering a $100,000 reward for information
leading to the arrests and convictions of those responsible.
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- 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.
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- The Animal Liberation Front, considered a domestic terrorist
group by the FBI, has claimed responsibility.
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- Weaver argues that the group that released the animals
didn't think of the repercussions.
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- "I'm not into anyone running around with fur coats
on," he said. "But you cannot let 10,000 semicarnivorous animals
out without having serious consequences."
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