Thanks for taking our survey. Survey: Does Mink Release Help ALF's Cause? Has the Animal Liberation Front helped the cause of farm-raised mink by releasing thousands of the animals from a Sultan farm? Yes. No. Time will tell.

"Fencing was removed and nearly every cage opened," ALF officials wrote in an e-mail sent to Seattle newspapers and television stations, including KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. "It has been shown through such efforts as the Mink Rehabilitation Project that farm raised mink can survive and flourish in the wild."

Sultan Police Chief Fred Walser said authorities had not been contacted by the ALF or any other group claiming responsibility for Monday's attack. He could not confirm whether the group was being investigated.

Frantic Effort To Capture Mink

About 10,000 mink were released early Monday from the farm of Brad Roesler, who raises them commercially for the fur industry.

"We got a call about 4:17 a.m. from a citizen who said there were several hundred minks running loose on the roadway," said Walser.

All but about 1,000 had been captured by mid-afternoon, he said.

It wasn't easy.

"They bite, boy. They're just like a sewing machine when they get hold of your finger," said the chief, who described them as a "little bigger style of weasel."

It was at least the third mink-farm release in this area in the past three years, Walser said.

Nearly 200 mink were freed from a Monroe farm by activists in 1999. Most were recaptured. The ALF, which the FBI says is responsible for more than 600 crimes nationally since 1996, released about 2,000 mink from a Cle Elum farm in 1997. Half were recovered.

The FBI was alerted to the latest effort, Walser said, noting that some such cases are considered domestic terrorism.

"We're working with Sultan PD to find out if there is federal jurisdiction here," said FBI special agent Robbie Burroughs in Seattle. Whether this is domestic terrorism "is what has to be determined," she said. "Anything is possible at this point."

No physical evidence was found at the scene, Walser said.

It appeared the intruder cut through a 4-foot fence at the rear of the operation "and systematically went up and down the coops -- like chicken coops, big long buildings," he said. "There were rows of mink pens set up in there with about two mink in each box. They just tilted the box off the holder and out came the mink."

Once released, "the mink appear to have run out the back fence and down a ravine and every direction you can think of," he said.

Big fishing nets were used to catch them, as well as "kind of a wire loop on a pole like a dogcatcher uses," Walser said.

Of those captured, at least four were found dead.

The mink need water to survive. As domestic animals, their hunting instincts may be dormant.

"If they're kept in cages all the time -- it'd be like a house cat being turned loose," said Tim Waters at the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. "Will it be able to find food? Good question."

"I wouldn't expect any to persist for very long," said Dave Ware, the department's game-division manager.

Mink are native to Washington state and most of North America except for hot, arid stretches of the Southwest, he said. They're members of the same family as otters, weasels, badgers and fishers.

Mink are brown with white markings under the chin and on the belly, growing as large as 18 inches and weighing up to 45 pounds.

They live near water and feed on fish, crayfish, frogs, small mammals and waterfowl, Waters said.

Aside from humans, their natural enemies are owls, coyotes, wolves, bears, lynx and bobcat.