Intruders are suspected of cutting through a section of fence at an Oregon mink farm and releasing about 1,500 of the animals either Wednesday night or early Thursday.
Cascade Farms in Turner had recovered about 80% of the mink by mid-morning Thursday, according to industry group Fur Commission USA.
Police were notified and recovery efforts were ongoing, Fur Commission USA said in a news release. Mink that cannot be found face a high risk of dying from thirst, starvation or predation within 24-48 hours, the industry group said.
“This wasn’t activism,” Fur Commission USA executive director Challis Hobbs said in the news release. “It was a criminal act against a legally operated, certified farm.”
Cascade Farms raises the mink for pelts and is Humane Care Certified, the commission said, meaning it meets rigorous standards for animal welfare.
The farm could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.
Although the mink industry has shrunk in recent decades, Oregon remains one of the nation’s top mink-producing states. Many of the mink farms left in Oregon are clustered in Marion County.
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