SULTAN, Wash. -- Police and volunteers were scrambling Monday to capture thousands of mink that were released from a mink farm in Sultan, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

Someone cut a fence at the farm during the night and released several thousand of the 10,000 animals. The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility Monday afternoon.

Some of the small animals could be seen running near the farm, as farm workers and volunteers tried to round them up, using traps, nets and gloved hands.

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Frantic Effort To Capture Mink

The farm-raised mink have no experience living in the wild.

"They're not going to survive out there," the farm's owner told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. "So they haven't helped this these animals out any."

A sheriff's department spokesman said there were no suspects.

The Animal Liberation Front, in an e-mail, said farm-raised mink can survive and flourish in the wild and that thr group plans to continue setting them free from their cages.