Animal activists face 'domestic terrorism' charge in freeing 5,740 minks

[Scootaloo]

49. These mink are

1) Mink are indeed an invasive species in many parts of the country because of their being farmed. Escapes and releases have resulted in ecologically destructive feral populations. it's an even bigger problem in Europe and south america, where they're completely non-native (in Europe, American mink outcompete and hunt the native European mink, even)

2) This means that mink - whether native wild populations or introduced feral populations - are not rare. They aren't even close to endangered. So anywhere that you are dumping "liberated" mink, is pretty much guaranteed to have mink populartions already there, if it's at all suitable habitat for the animals.

3) Which it might not be. Mink are semi-aquatic and dependent on flowing waterways. if this habitat is not available, you might as well toss them in the ocean and hope they become sea otters. What this specialized habitat dependency means... is that mink are also territorial. I don't think I need to explain to you how a medium-sized weasel might settle territorial disputes?

4) While the local mink and the introduced mink are tearing each other to shreds over living space, both groups are eating (or trying to eat - captive breeding isn't conducive to hunting ability.) Now you've put pressure on the prey animals of the locality. And that pressure and resultant scarcity is going to drive the mink towards non-regular prey. Which by definition has not evolved with mink predation as a feature.

5) Those mink are also being eaten. Foxes, hawks, and owls dine on mink. and you've just thrown a lot of food into the faces of these higher-tier predators. This is going to result in a population bulge for these guys, which is going to result in more pressure on their prey, including whatever mink survived the initial onslaught.

6) The expanded population of mink causes another problem - disease. Captive mink aren't famed for their immune systems (there is no breeding pressure for good immunity in captivity, after all) and minks, as all mustelids, are vulnerable to diseases like rabies, distemper, influenza, and parvoviruses. otters, those foxes, raccoon, etc are all also vulnerable to these diseases.

You seem to have this fantasy of kyoot widdle fwiffy-wuffy schnukkums frolicking freely in meadows and having adventures with its widdle buddies. What you're actually doing is endangering an entire fucking ecosystem by throwing gobs and gobs of new predators into the mix and walking away.

You don't like the fur industry? That's fine, neither do I. But given the choice between a fur farm and widespread ecological harm, i'll take the fur farm. Now if you have an option C, let's have a look at that.