Thousands of mink on the loose in Pennsylvania. ‘Everywhere you look, there’s minks’
Up to 8,000 mink are on the loose in Pennsylvania, and residents are being encouraged to stay away from them.
Pennsylvania State Police troopers say someone cut holes in the fence of the Richard Stahl Fur Farm in Northumberland County in the early morning hours of Sunday, Sept. 17, releasing 6,000 to 8,000 mink from their pens.
As numerous agencies work to corral the mink, it remains unclear who cut the holes in the fence.
The mink range in size from 12 to 20 inches and could be black, brown or white in color, WNEP reported.
“Right now it’s like living in some sort of sci-fi movie or horror film. Everywhere you look, there’s minks,” Erin Bourinski said in a Facebook post. “Running through the fields, standing in the roads, trying to find shelter in random houses.”
The Sunbury Animal Hospital said on Sunday mink have surrounded the hospital, but they should not be approached. The animal hospital has asked for help setting traps for the escaped animals.
Mink are aggressive, the animal hospital said. Bourinski said they are likely “scared, confused and hungry with no idea how to survive.”
“They are not pets, and should not be taken in a home or to a rescue,” the animal hospital said. “If one of these minks were to approach you, get far away from it.”
Northumberland County District Attorney Tony Matulewicz said the animals could affect other farms and animals, potentially leading to millions of dollars in damages, according to The Daily Item.
Mink are referred to as “one of Pennsylvania’s most efficient predators,” according to the state’s game commission. Officials call the animals opportunists, saying they feed “on whatever is most easily caught or found.”
Animal rights groups have long spoken out against mink farming, McClatchy News reported in November 2022 when up to 40,000 mink were freed from an Ohio farm.
The Animal Liberation Front have been behind similar instances of mink being freed from captivity, but it’s unclear if they are behind the Northumberland County escape.
In August, the activists released 3,000 mink from a Wisconsin farm, the Star Tribune reported. The FBI was seeking suspects in similar incidents in Ohio and Michigan from November 2022 to February 2023, WTOL reported.
Sunbury is in central Pennsylvania about 60 miles north of Harrisburg.
40,000 mink are running loose after someone broke into their facility, Ohio cops say
