The Animal Liberation Front recently claimed responsibility for the release of about 10,000 mink valued at $400,000 from a farm in Iowa in one of the largest animal releases by the group to date. Activists struck the Earl Drewelow and Sons Mink Farm in northeast Iowa, opening pens that held about 14,000 mink.
A North American Animal Liberation Press Office release claimed that all 14,000 animals had been set free, but an Associated Press story reported that about 4,000 of the mink remained in their pens.
Meanwhile of those animals that did escape, hundreds were killed by passing cars on nearby highways.
“These mink are farm animals, know nothing about life off the farm and are completely dependent on the farmer,” Lenny Drewelow, co-owner for the farm, told the Associated Press. “They will die in a few days without human help.”
In its press release, the NAALF quoted ALF spokesperson David Barbarash as saying,
Today’s raid marks the 68th action of its kind carried out by the ALF and other people since 1995. The war against the fur industry is far from over, as long as animals are kept in cages and killed for vanity luxury items.
Sources:
14,000 Mink Set Free In Iowa. North American Animal Liberation Front Press Office, Press Release, September 7, 2000.
Vandals free 10,000 animals from Iowa farm. The Associated Press, September 8, 2000.