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Making A Living Out of Mink
By Baird Helgeson
Scott Stevens loves animals.
"I'm proud of what I do," the Rochester area mink farmer said. "I love raising the animals and caring for them. It's very difficult, but very rewarding, like any farming."
Stevens, a second-generation fur farmer, took over the family farm several years ago. "It's all I know," said Stevens, co-owner of Zumbro River Fur Farm. "I grew up on the farm and learned everything I know here." Scott Stevens, co-owner of Zumbro River Fur Farm, has raised mink his whole life.
But clouding the normally quiet life of most fur farmers is the fear of being targeted by animal rights groups.
Animal rights groups have waged an expensive campaign to shut down all fur farms in the United States, according to Teresa Platt, executive director of Fur Commission USA, an industry group.
Stevens knows this well. Animal rights activists broke into his farm in 1998 and released 2,800 mink, resulting in a neighborhood patchwork of carcasses of dead cats, squirrels and other small animals that fell prey to the frenzied mink. "It was my worst nightmare," Stevens said. All but about 300 mink were returned to the farm.
It was the second time animal rights activists had targeted his farm since 1994.
Animal rights crimes have cost fur farms more than $175 million over 10 years, according to a report by the U.S. Justice Department.
In the meantime, fur farmers try to survive in a business they love. They see their products as ecologically sound alternatives to mass-produced fibers.
"When I look at what they pull out of the landfill next door, all I see is old tires and other man-made fibers," Stevens said. "Mink is a quality, biodegradable material."
Mink farming is like raising any other livestock, said Kent Disse, a central Minnesota fur farmer who raises 30,000 mink. "You have to love the animals," he said. "You have to be very attuned to their health and well-being."
Minnesota is the third-largest fur farming state in the nation, behind Utah and Wisconsin. Iowa is the seventh-largest fur-producing state, according to the Fur Commission. Minnesota had 44 fur farms in 1998 and about 20 were in the southern Minnesota, according to the state Department of Agriculture.
"It's hard, but it can be a wonderful business," Disse said. "When you produce really quality fur, it is a wonderful, wonderful feeling."
But the threat of being targeted by animal rights groups can be a heavy burden, fur farmers said. And there is no letting down.
"Running a mink farm is a seven-day-a-week operation," Disse said. "If you don't treat the animals well, you will be out of business in a year."
For further information contact: Teresa Platt, Executive Director, Fur Commission USA, 826 Orange Avenue, #506, Coronado, CA 92118 USA, (619) 575-0139, (619) 575-5578/fax, furfarmers@aol.com, www.furcommission.com.
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