Recently the Oregonian (Oregon's only daily newspaper) ran stories a day apart about a raid on an Oregon mink farm carried out by an underground group called the Animal Liberation Front. The raid resulted in the release of about 10,000 mink.
The newspaper story was told from the "mink farmer" point of view and suggests nothing of the suffering these animals endure during their short lives. It would have been nice if the Oregonian had published the information from the Humane Society that appears below.
Following the FUR FARMING article, we have also published a letter that was sent to the Oregonian by a concerned reader. The newspaper chose not to print the letter.
The following information is courtesy of the Humane Society of the United States
WHICH ANIMALS ARE BRED AND RAISED FOR THEIR FUR?
Fur farmers breed and raise fur animals including mink, foxes, chinchillas and rex rabbits to produce skins for the fur market. Mink are by far the most commonly raised animals for this purpose. Fur "farms" or "ranches" are actually buildings that consist of tiny pens where animals are crammed together.
ARE FUR FARMS HUMANE?
No. Ranched fur animals are not treated humanely. Confined in small wire cages where all natural activities are denied them, fur animals often suffer from rapid spread of disease and obsessive-compulsive stereotypic behavior such as pacing, boredom, fighting, self-mutilation, and cannibalism -- behavior induced by the combination of frustration and deprivation caused by their biologically inappropriate surroundings of fur farms. Reports indicate that approximately 10% of ranch raised mink die each summer from heat related diseases. The following is a summary of a study done by the HSUS a few years ago:
Mink -- Mink farms account for a majority of the ranched fur in North America, accounting for approximately 85% of all ranched furs. Other than mating and weaning periods, mink in the wild are solitary and territorial animals, intolerant of other mink. They live in water for approximately half their waking time, and their population density is two to five per square kilometer. On fur farms they are kept in small wire cages. Artificial manipulation is routine on mink farms in order to accelerate breeding. The animals are inbred for specific colors, causing severe abnormalities such as deafness, crippling of limbs, deformed sex organs, screw-necks, anemia, sterility and other disturbances of the nervous system. Mink are usually pelted at seven months of age.
Fox -- In the wild foxes are usually monogamous with both the mother and father raising the pups. The male fox typically returns to the same vixen each mating season. On fur farms, there is forced polygamous breeding and segregation during gestation (raising), contributing to the stress. One of the largest reasons for neo-natal mortality in fox is stress-induced cannibalism by the mother.
HOW DO FUR FARMS KILL THE ANIMALS?
There are several methods of killing animals on fur farms. One method is gassing by carbon monoxide of dioxide, often accomplished by attaching a hose between car exhaust and the gassing chamber, usually a box full of animals. The hot, unfiltered carbon monoxide burns the eyes nad lungs of the animal and results in a horrible death. Another method is simply inserting a mink's head into a bottle of carbon dioxide. Some ranchers simply inject mink with common pesticides, diluted with rubbing alcohol to save money. Some prefer "cervical dislocation," in which the rancher simply twists the animal's neck until it breaks. It is believed that approximately 85% of small mink farms and 1/3 of the large mink farms kill by neckbreaking. Other animals are electrocuted -- one electrode is attached to the animal's mouth and another inserted into the anus, and a lethal charge is administered. Finally, death can occur by lethal injection. However, sodium pentobarbital, which is used by animal shelters and provides a painless death, is often substituted by cheaper chemicals like magnesium sulphate, nicotine sulphate, and curariform drugs. All of these methods are condemned as inhumane by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), which sets standards for humane euthanasia.
AREN'T FUR FARMS REGULATED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT?
No. The American fur farm industry is largely unregulated. There is no substantial federal, state or local oversight of fur farming operations and no laws or regulations that ensure proper and huamne care of ranched fur animals. Treatment of animals varies widely from fur farm to fur farm; however, ranched fur animals are forced to endure miserable conditions. Moreover, fur animals have only been bred in captivity for about 100 years, and still maintain their wild traits. Domestication is a long process requiring thousands of years. These wild animals are simply not suited for a life of cramped captivity.
For further information, contact the HSUS by phone at (202) 452-1100, by fax at (301) 258-3080, or by email at hsuswild@ix.netcom.com.
The following letter was written to the editor of the Oregonian by one reader commenting on issues easily missed by reading these articles. This letter was not printed by the Oregonian, however a copy was forwarded to Ark Online and we have reprinted it below:
To the editor:
The recent complaint by the owner of the mink farm at Mount Angel that he runs a "perfectly legal business" completely misses the point. Slavery was once legal. The sale of tobacco is still legal. But should one earn one's livelihood from the misery of other sentient creatures? That is the point.
To consider our fellow creatures who are certainly capable of feeling pain and who should be free to live out their natural lives--brief as they may be--as no more than commodities is to debase the gift of life itself, the most precious gift that any of us receive. Whether a mink farm, a puppy mill, a factory poultry operation, or a cattle feed lot, the artificial constraints and inhumane conditions that our society collectively tolerates bring shame upon us all.
Concern about animal welfare is not about elevating animals to the same level as human beings, a complaint sometimes heard. Just the contrary. Animals do not usually make choices based on morality and reasoning. They follow their instincts. Human beings, on the other hand, do have the capacity to choose. Today we know that eating animal products is not good for our health, helps to degrade the environment, makes poor use of vanishing farmland, and most seriously for many people, can be considered an immoral and inhumane act toward the conscious and alive beings who are being killed and consumed.
There is a lack of empathy that is evident in such situations.There are those who will find the comparison odious and will take offense--perhaps be outraged--but this basic deficiency has also led to acts of genocide throughout human history. While the degree of culpability is, of course, far greater, the basic lack of empathy that allows human beings to kill other human beings who are "them" and not "us" is very similar to the ability of human beings to look at animals as commodities, to be treated without regard to the fact that they are also living, feeling, breathing beings.
Joseph Turner
Clackamas, Oregon