Two Weeks After ALF Attack, Thousands of Mink Dead or Dying

NEW HAMPTON, IOWA: During the early hours of Sept. 7, vandals opened the pens of 14,000 mink at the Earl Drewelow and Sons fur farm in New Hampton, Iowa, the largest release of farm animals in US history. Two weeks later, almost 10,000 are either dead, dying or unaccounted for.

Responsibility for the carnage has been claimed by the Animal Liberation Front, fast becoming known in farming circles as the "Animal Elimination Front".

Enormous Challenge

From the moment the vandals struck, Lenny Drewelow and his family, who run the farm named after Lenny's grandfather, knew they faced an enormous challenge. Few, if any, of their animals would survive long in the wild, and even if they could be recovered quickly, the problems would not be over.

With the help of almost 50 people working shifts from dusk to dawn for two days, an estimated 4,500 animals were returned to the farm in reasonably good health by sundown on Sept. 8.

"Many others were brought in dead, or near to death," recalls Lenny Drewelow. "Our yard looked like something out of M.A.S.H. Our workers tried to nurse the sick mink back to health, but we lost a lot."

Over the next few days, tiny carcasses started turning up all around the countryside, but they were not brought home because they were either decaying or bloated. "We had unseasonably hot weather over that weekend, in the mid-90s, which really hurt us," explains Drewelow.

An extraordinary number were also found flattened on the local highway, causing Drewelow to wonder whether they had been drawn to their deaths. "You'd expect some animals to become roadkill, but there were just too many," he says. "I believe they must have gravitated to the highway because they heard the sound of motors, which farmed mink associate with the sound of a feed cart."

Indeed, even now, each feed time when the feed cart is running, the occasional mink will be seen "circling the surrounding fence, frantically try to get back in for feed," he says. "Now we leave the gates open at feeding time, so they can find their own way back in."

Some of them are in extremely poor shape, though. "Did you know that mink chew off their own tails rather than starve after ALF 'liberates' them?" Drewelow asks. "We've seen a fair few of those hobbling home."

But there's no way home for the 27 mink that died in the jaws of just one dog, belonging to a neighbor.

Ailing Survivors

Even among those mink that were recovered or made their own way home, the casualty rate has been high.

"Two weeks after the attack, we are still removing dead animals from their pens," says Drewelow. "The heat and stress has done them in." The remnants of the herd have now been put on antibiotic as a booster, but the casualties keep mounting.

Others are succumbing to fights with their new "littermates". Mink are born in litters of three to 13, and as they mature they are broken down into groups of two or three littermates which then share a pen.

"When the Animal Elimination Front hit the farm, these littermates were forcibly separated," says Drewelow. "We have tried to pair them up again with new littermates, but sometimes they just don't get on. A fight breaks out and one mink ends up dead."

Political Sacrifice

The dead animals which now litter the New Hampton countryside had lived their entire lives on a farm, and were completely dependent on humans for their food and health. Now, "they have been sacrificed on the altar of animal rights by criminals who, ironically, claim to care for animals," says an embittered Drewelow.

Meanwhile, local television station KWWL TV, in Waterloo, has condemned the attack as a self-righteous act of cruelty.

"Protest is one thing, but criminal acts are something else," it said. "The North American Animal Liberation Front claims responsibility for vandalizing a New Hampton fur farm last week by releasing 14,000 mink. Whoever did it ruined a farm and a family business and condemned thousands of mink to die of starvation or thirst in bean fields or be road kill on Iowa highways. ... The New Hampton release was not a lawful protest. It was self-righteousness run amok."(1)

Anyone finding a lost mink, please use caution since it will by now be starving, and call Fur Commission USA at (619) 575-0139.

NOTE:

(1) See www.kwwl.com (viewpoints section), "Animal Activists" by KWWL TV, Iowa, Sept. 10, 2000. Comments to Jim Waterbury at jwaterbury@raycommedia.com

See also:
ALF Pushing Nonsense Philosophy; Farmers Issue Challenge FCUSA press release, Sept. 13, 2000.

An Open Letter of Thanks from Earl Drewelow and Sons Fur Farm FCUSA press release, Sept. 10, 2000.

Update on Attack on Iowa Mink Farm FCUSA press release, Sept. 9, 2000.

Neighbors Pitch In to Gather Loose Animals Washington Courier, Sept. 8, 2000. (Outside link)

Over Ten Thousand Mink Stolen and Abandoned; Local Highway Taking Toll, FCUSA press release, Sept. 7, 2000.

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.

To take a cyber-tour of a fur farm, visit Fur Commission USA's Fur on Film at http://www.furcommission.com/video/index.htm

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