An animal rights group on Wednesday claimed responsibility for releasing some 60,000 minks from two fur farms in northern Greece last weekend.
We are against the oppression, exploitation and imprisonment… of all living creatures.
The break-ins occurred Friday and Saturday near the cities of Kastoria, the center of Greece’s fur industry, and Siatista.
Regional TV channels showed farm employees chasing the animals with fishing nets on Monday.
In a statement on its website www.antispe.gr, the group said it had freed the animals from the farms “to strike against the fur industry”.
“We are against the oppression, exploitation and imprisonment… of all living creatures,” the statement continued before declaring, “We are all animals.”
The National Fur Breeders’ Association says most of the released animals are likely to die in the late-August heat.
It said the cost to the farm owners could pass 1 million euro (AUD 1.27 million).
The head of Kastoria’s union of fur traders, Iraklis Kalisthenis, said the owners of the fur farm in Hiliodendro had suffered some 2 million euros in losses following the release of 50,000 minks.
Another 10,000 or so were freed from a smaller fur farm in Siatista, near Kozani.