Home / Daily news channel / News | Monday 06 February 2012 |
Mass mink release condemned by wildlife groups |
Four Greek wildlife groups on Monday criticised as "misguided" the mass release of thousands of mink into the wild from fur farms in northwestern Greece by an animal rights protest group. "Regardless of motive, the practice of releasing species foreign to an environment is harmful and can prove destructive," the four groups -- Anima, Arcturos, Callisto and the Hellenic Ornithological Society -- said in a text. "At a time when biodiversity is threatened by a series of problems, further taxing it with misguided forms of protest is to be condemned," the groups said.
Thousands of mink were released from two fur farms near the towns of Kastoria and Siatista last week.
A statement later posted on the alternative Greek site Indymedia claimed responsibility for the act on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front, an international group specialising in direct action against animal abuse.
"We have decided to strike the fur industry and particularly the abhorrent 'fur towns' of Siatista and Kastoria," the statement said.
"We are against the repression, exploitation and imprisonment which this civilisation has created against all living beings, regardless of species, race, sex or sexual orientation," it said.
Similar protests in the area, which constitutes the heart of Greek fur trade to mainly Russia and the Emirates, have been carried out in the last two years.
