City Mink, Country Mink & Lessons
from the Big City

By Teresa Platt, Executive Director, FCUSA

A SPATE OF MINK RELEASES THIS SUMMER inspired news editors to ask their largely urban readers that perennial question: how, if at all, should man be allowed to benefit from animals? And true to form, they either skirted around or ignored discussion of the alternatives to animal products: monoculture, with the attendant diversion of water and loss of habitat, and petro-chemical products. Sadly, the media's inability to weigh the trade-offs inherent in food and clothing production seems to be a fact of life.

Flipping the coin, however, we find that the same urbanites who know little about food and clothing production are streets ahead of rural people when it comes to fighting crime.

Most city dwellers are familiar with the "broken window theory", a term coined in 1982 by political scientist James Wilson and criminologist George Kelling. According to this theory, when residents allow their neighborhood to run down, when they retreat and withdraw, one broken window becomes another, and another. And then crime moves in. To stop this happening, we must at the very least overcome the feeling of impotence - that whatever we as individuals do makes no difference.

Fixing that window, painting over that graffiti, and removing that abandoned car can reverse the "broken window" trend and actually cause crime to decline. But curing existing sores is only the first step. Next comes preventive medicine that stops crime happening in the first place. Progressive communities are going ever further, applying "problem-oriented policing" to help police and politicians fight the underlying causes of crime. For example, San Diego churches organized to close a market selling alcohol to minors. By getting involved in the political process, citizens stopped the fostering of negative and illegal activities.

Down on the Farm

So how can the fur farmers of rural America apply these "neighborhood watch" lessons in urban crime prevention?

Farmers are currently on the receiving end of a crime spree. Mink "liberators" may depict themselves as noble champions of "non-human sentient beings," but there is no escaping the truth. By the laws of any land, they are criminals, pure and simple.

Thus far, we have responded to their acts in patchy fashion, but the Wisconsin indictment last month of two animal activists shows what we can achieve when we do things right. Without key evidence provided to law enforcement by an alert fur farmer, those indictments would never have been issued.

The question is, how can we repeat that success on a regular basis? First and foremost, as potential targets of crime, we must be constantly vigilant. The police cannot possibly guard all of our farms. That is our job. And they cannot make arrests unless we give them good information. So our other job is to get good information.

Good Farmers, Good Neighbors

Whenever we review our neighborhood watch-style accounting of suspicious cars, phone calls, break-ins and foiled attempts, we can see where we fur farmers are failing to compile the information that leads to arrests.

"Although there were several sightings of suspicious vehicles, the lack of detail, from license plates to description of the vehicles and occupants, makes it difficult for law enforcement to effectively use their limited resources," said Tom Gibson, chair of FCUSA's Government Affairs Committee, in a recent review.

So farmers are alert to strange cars, people, phone calls and things that go bump in the night, and it was gratifying to see several foiled break-ins on the list. However, we had opportunities to get key information, notably license plates, and failed.

We know there will be another crime wave, if not next week then next year. We must prepare ourselves thoroughly. And that means developing the neighborhood watch mentality.

It doesn't mean we all become paranoid and call the police each time a strange car parks nearby. It means going about our normal business, while getting into the habit of jotting down that car's license plate. The driver is probably as innocent as you or I, but what if the same car were spotted by a farmer in the next state? What if you could compare notes and have FCUSA run a check? What if? Such is the potential of a neighborhood watch to nip crime in the bud.

With an effective neighborhood watch in place, we can progress to "problem-oriented policing" and address the underlying causes of crime. We must attack the non-profit status of the groups behind ALF - groups which feed impressionable teenagers with hate propaganda that promotes conflict, intolerance and crime.

Teresa Platt, executive director of Fur Commission USA, represents 400 mink-farming families, and serves on the boards of the National Animal Interest Alliance and Alliance for America, groups working to restore people and common sense to the environmental equation. For further information contact: Teresa Platt, Executive Director, Fur Commission USA, PMB 506, 826 Orange Avenue, Coronado, CA 92118-2698 USA, (619) 575-0139, (619) 575-5578/fax, furfarmers@aol.com, www.furcommission.com.

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