About 1,500 mink broke loose from an Oregon farm after someone cut through a fence, in an incident authorities and local reports say has been linked to an extremist animal rights group.
The mink were deliberately released from Cascade Farm in Turner late last Wednesday night while the farm manager, his wife, their children and other workers were asleep, KOIN reported.
Investigators believe the suspected intruders sliced a hole in a chain-link fence enclosure, giving the animals a path to escape, according to the local outlet.
The Animal Liberation Front, a decentralized international network of animal rights activists that the FBI has described as extremist, appears to have associated itself with the break-in, KOIN reported.
In a press release, the group said it had not yet received an “anonymous communique” formally claiming responsibility for the release.
Still, Jerry Vlasak, a spokesperson for the North American Animal Liberation Front, told the outlet that the mink release matched the group’s typical actions and noted that activists do not always send communiques taking credit.
Cascade Farm’s owners have since recaptured about 90% of the semiaquatic mammals, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office told KOIN.
“This wasn’t activism. It was a criminal act against a legally operated, certified farm,” Challis Hobbs, executive director of Fur Commission USA, which represents mink farmers including Cascade Farm, told the outlet.
“The farm manager and his wife and children live on this property, along with other employees and their families,” he said. “It’s deeply unsettling to have people cut through a fence in the middle of the night with children sleeping just steps away.”
Cascade Farm raises mink legally for pelts and is Humane Care Certified. Any of the mink that aren’t recovered within 24 to 48 hours also face risk of starvation and death, Fur Commission USA added.
The animal activists, however, claimed the mink would be subjected to “egregiously cruel and violent” treatment in captivity.
“The animals liberated last night have a fighting chance at life; they faced a 100 percent death rate if they stayed on the farm,” the Animal Liberation Front wrote in a statement.
The group previously claimed responsibility for cutting open a fence at Olsen Fur Farm in Wisconsin in 2023, allowing about 3,000 mink to escape, CBS reported.
Authorities have not commented on whether the Animal Liberation Front is being probed for pulling off the stunt at Cascade Farms, according to KOIN.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office and Fur Commission USA did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
