After animal rights activists liberated several thousand minks from a fur farm in Hampshire County, England, the hungry creatures were blamed for killing birds at a local sanctuary along with some domestic pets, and have disrupted the local ecosystem considerably. "They can climb a tree like a squirrel and dive in a stream like an otter. They are an efficient killing machine and our native species are not used to having to cope with them," commented local forest-keeper Howard Taylor. A spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front said that though many mink may indeed die, "At least they will have had a taste of freedom."

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