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Break-in at Ohio farm releases as many as 10,000 carnivorous mink into the wild, police say
Mike Snider
USA TODAY
Thousands of mink were released from their cages at a mink farm in northwest Ohio overnight Monday, police say.
The property owner first said 25,000 to 40,000 mink were released from their cages after vandals destroyed fencing at Lion Farms USA Mink Farm in Hoaglin Township but later said farm employees were able to capture many of the animals loose on the property, Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas M. Riggenbach said. The farm is less than 15 miles from the Indiana state line.
The incident, which is being considered a breaking-and-entering crime or vandalism, remains under investigation, Riggenbach said. But the office posted the information about the freed mink as soon as possible early Tuesday "to notify our communities what was going on," Riggenbach told USA TODAY. "So they could start making informed decisions and understand what had taken place."

USA TODAY

Thousands of mink were released from their cages at a mink farm in northwest Ohio overnight Monday, police say.
The property owner first said 25,000 to 40,000 mink were released from their cages after vandals destroyed fencing at Lion Farms USA Mink Farm in Hoaglin Township but later said farm employees were able to capture many of the animals loose on the property, Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas M. Riggenbach said. The farm is less than 15 miles from the Indiana state line.
The incident, which is being considered a breaking-and-entering crime or vandalism, remains under investigation, Riggenbach said. But the office posted the information about the freed mink as soon as possible early Tuesday "to notify our communities what was going on," Riggenbach told USA TODAY. "So they could start making informed decisions and understand what had taken place."