Originally published at: Activists released thousands of minks that are now on the loose in Ohio | Boing Boing
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During the coronavirus pandemic, these farms have been under new scrutiny from scientists concerned that coronavirus infections in mink could harbor the virus long term or be a potential source for new variants. Congress is considering a ban on mink farming[…]
Isn’t that how 28 Days Later started?
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I wonder what the people who did this thought would happen to the animals once released. Wild mink have a low population density. Even other mink think they’re assholes. So even assuming each of these animals could find a place to live, what would it eat-songbirds? (Or just about anything else). Or was there some idea that it was better for the mink to be run over by a car than humanely slaughtered?
If the conditions are harming the animals getting the farmer inspected will do way more good.
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The mink overlords are here to stay.
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Aren’t the ALF the group in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back?”
Weird.
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Perhaps the idea is not that this will actually help these particular mink all that very much (maybe some proportion), but the ultimate win is if the farm s out of business.
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I think you’re thinking of Twelve Minks, starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt.
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They thrive!
We had the same in UK many years ago and water voles were pretty much wiped out by them.
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So stupid.
Minks are an ecological disaster. They’re carnivores that will aggressively eat any small animals in the environment, native or non native. 10,000 of them will virtually exterminate the local squirrels, rabbits, and mice that are the primary food sources for hawks, owls, and other competing predators. And once their normal prey is gone, they’re going to get really aggressive towards other food sources, like deer, raccoons, garbage cans, pets, farm animals, etc.
I don’t know what the answer is to protesting mink farming, but wrecking the environment ain’t it.
When they catch the parties involved, they should be charged like an arsonist who starts a wildfire, or an industrial polluter.
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It’s more about harming farming as a business rather than freeing individual animals.
The argument that I’ve heard (which I don’t entirely agree with) is that if locals don’t want their environment destroyed by released mink, the farm shouldn’t have been allowed to begin with.
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Would have been easier if they just have a patrol check for minky licenses
Otherwise, for the safety of the public:
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10,000 minks escaped? Call Natalie Merchant. She’ll know what to do!
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I was wondering that too but apparently Ohio is within the native range of the American mink so it’s not like they’re introducing an invasive species to the ecosystem.
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We can only assume the farmer was operating within the bounds of the law. Mink farming was and remains legal in Ohio, as 5 seconds of googling shows:
Section 901.35 | Administrative rules pertaining to mink.
Title 9 Agriculture-Animals-Fences
Chapter 901 Department Of Agriculture
(A) Mink raised in captivity for breeding or other useful purposes are deemed domestic animals.
(B) Mink are deemed agricultural products.
(C) The breeding, raising, producing, or marketing of mink or their products by the producer is deemed an agricultural pursuit.
All the functions of the department of natural resources, division of wildlife, which affect the breeding, raising, producing, marketing, or any other phase of the production or distribution, of domestically raised mink, or products thereof, are hereby transferred to and vested in the department of agriculture.
The protestors need to get the state to change, not the farmers.
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What is the matter with these assholes? Their complete and utter disregard for ecosystems, and their ignorance about what can, and will happen when thousands of four-footed, furry murder-machines are unleashed into the environment.
Dumb bastards did it all over the U.K., and the mink devastated wildlife that had developed no natural means to defend against the threat. Water birds, small rodents, fish stocks. Fortunately, most mink have disappeared, thanks to people hunting them, relatively small numbers distributed across wide areas, and the increase in numbers of otters, which had been almost entirely wiped out, but had undergone a reintroduction programme, helped a great deal - otters won’t tolerate the competition for resources.
I would imagine, though, that America has a lot more natural predators that will quickly get rid of them, like snakes, scorpions, and possibly various raptors.
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Like I said upthread Ohio is well within the natural range of the American Mink so it’s not an invasive species there. Releasing that many mink in one place might put some extra strain on the environment for a little while but that’s the kind of problem nature usually sorts out one way or another pretty quickly.
[per Wikipedia]
The protestors likely tried that, but lobbyists spend more than people who don’t know about the damage escaped minks cause spend. Now you let them loose, they tear shit up, ruin habitats/etc… and now the common people DO know what damage can be done, and maybe they call their congress critters, and things change.
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