In 1990 Earth First!ers and animal liberationists researched the release and reintroduction of a North American predator into the wild, the mink. Our research and the rescue, rehabilitation and release of 60 mink, four bobcats and two lynx led us to conclude that all predators imprisoned on the nation's 500 fur farms should be reintroduced into their natural habitat. Highly intelligent, fierce and very adaptive, mink and other predators have been anything but successfully domesticated.
The ability of formerly captive mink to survive in the wild has rarely been questioned, only the impact these beautifully fierce predators have on the environment as they return to a wild life. The release of animals from fur farms is nothing new. In the former-Soviet Union, Iceland, Scandinavia, Europe, Canada, United States and Britain, animal liberation raids as well as accidental and intentional releases from fur farms have resulted in mink and fox reintroduction into the environment. In Britain, where the entire wild mink population comes from fur farms, the ecological impact of non-native mink has been measured. The water vole, whose depletion was at first blamed on mink, in fact, accounts for only two percent of the British mink's diet. Where mink compete with Britain's native otter population, the larger otters kill mink.
Mink are native only to North America, and until the war against them began in the 1600s, they flourished in lakes and waterways across the country. By the early 20th century, fresh-water mink were largely extirpated from their former range by the commercial fur trade and habitat destruction. With wild mink populations no longer able to satisfy the demand for their fur, trappers in Canada and the US began the domestication and economic exploitation of mink and fox. Utah trappers first live-trapped mink to breed in captivity in 1925. In 1927, the US government opened its Experimental Furbearer Research Station in Oregon (shut down by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) in 1991) and began experimentation in breeding and raising mink in captivity.
Captive-bred mink are genetically almost identical to their wild counterparts. The only visible differences are behavior, fur quality and color. Black and dark mink, those most commonly raised on fur farms, are closest genetically to wild mink. Captive-bred mink that breed with wild mink produce offspring that lose all visible traces of manipulated genes in one or two generations. A 1986 study in Devon, England, found that only three percent of the mink population exhibited the genes of captive populations.
These factors were the basis of our rehabilitation work with the mink, bobcats and lynx liberated in 1990. Volunteers placed mink in cages four times as large as their previous enclosures and introduced objects such as logs, rocks, plants and water. Small baths allowed the mink to acquaint themselves with water other than that coming from a nozzle or small dish. Their response was to submerge themselves and splash all the water out of their baths. After drying they groomed themselves - all signs of a healthy wild animal. Once the mink built up muscular strength, we focused on nurturing hunting instincts. Our project attempted to do everything possible to assure survival. Once the mink learned to kill live mice and rats, they took little interest in their pelleted scientific diet.
To minimize the demands of offspring on female mink in their first season of freedom and to encourage breeding with wild mink, the captive-bred mink were released far from human habitat and the release site of other captive-bred mink of the opposite sex. On one release, a mink found an abandoned burrow and quickly moved in. Weeks later at another release site, mink tracks were found along with droppings containing hair from a preyed-upon animal.
There are a number of factors liberators can influence to increase minks' survival rate and decrease any detrimental or permanent impact on the minks' new environment. The most important of these is the time of year a liberation takes place. Between July and January is best to avoid the breeding and kit-bearing season. Releasing a late-term pregnant mink increases her energy requirements, and releasing female mink with a litter will result in abandonment of the kits. Male captive-bred mink have survived when released almost year-round, even in the Scandinavian environment.
All captive mink will be killed, and there is debate as to what kind of death is most desirable. While some mink released from fur farms near heavily traveled roads may become road kill, many others survive, with better odds than those in captivity.
The ALF often removes record-keeping cards from cages when releasing mink. Even when released mink are recaptured, decades of breeding records are lost, leaving fur farmers without an identification system to distinguish fur-bearing "pelter" mink from breeder mink. This can push fur farmers into bankruptcy as pelts fetch lowers prices due to lighter fur color and diminished quality.
Given time, mink will flee the farm area once outside the guard fence (a four to five-foot fence topped with electric wire or sheet metal to prevent escape once out of the cage). Left inside the fence, some mink will linger because of the smell of food, other mink and familiarity with her/his own nest box. Once the mink have left the guard fence, the quickest natural mode of distribution is a waterway. A mink can travel over five miles in one night. A large number of mink released in one area will not stay concentrated but travel until they establish their own territories, searching out other mink only to breed.
This leads to the issues of ecological impacts of mass mink liberations on the environment. Mink are not specialized predators and will eat whatever prey is available. Examination of mink scat and dens reveal the diversity of their diet, which can include mice, voles, rats, rabbits, fish, eggs, birds, reptiles, amphibians, crayfish and insects. When the population of one food source gets low, mink will switch to a more abundant prey. Still, mink are predators, and there will be a noticeable impact on prey populations. It is the responsibility of the liberator to guarantee vulnerable and sensitive habitat is not compromised by a mass mink liberation. Mink are ferocious and caution should be taken to avoid releasing mink near concentrations of small animals such as chicken farms, where they may become dependent on easy prey.
Transmitting diseases from captive-bred mink to wild mink is possible but rare. Modern mink farmers have devoted years of research to keep their farms disease-free.
There should be no hesitation to reintroduce healthy captive-bred mink. Native mink populations are drastically reduced, and liberated mink are sure to redistribute themselves to former habitat. The ideal environment is an undeveloped area with a nearby water source and infrequently used roads. In Wisconsin, concern from wildlife officials about the lack of mink along the Sheboygan River was answered by the ALF, which in 1996 released 400 mink from a nearby fur farm.
As the ALF opens cages, they not only liberate individual animals, but whole species. Liberations are not only a blow to the profit margins of fur farmers but also a boost to North America's ravaged environment. With an absence of native predators, prey populations explode, spreading disease and harm to the ecological balance. By responsibly releasing fur farm predators, liberators help restore wounded ecosystems.