FBI Document Reveals Unreported 2008 Mink Release in Utah

Unclaimed mink liberation reported in FBI document from ALF legal case.

One of the many documents made pubic in the Alex Hall and William Viehl case revealed a previously unknown action that was apparently the work of animal liberators: Sometime in August, 2008, persons unknown opened 15 pens and released 114 mink from a mink farm in South Jordan, Utah. This action was unclaimed, and was never reported on in the media. Until, this action was not known outside of the fur farming community.

The quote from the FBI document reads:

“McMullin stated that several days before the vandalism at his farm occurred, Hunter Groves Mink Farm may have been targeted by animal rights extremists. McMullin added that about 15 pens had been opened up and about 114 mink had been released.”

“McMullin” refers to Lindsey McMullin, the owner of the farm where Alex Hall and William Viehl released 650 mink in August 2008, an action they were subsequently arrested and served prison time for. The McMullin fur farm is a short distance north of the (former) Groves fur farm.

The Hunter Groves Mink Farm is one that is known to area activists: for many years it was an active mink farm in South Jordan, Utah, located in a (relatively) densely populated area on a major road. At a protest there in 2010, members of SLAAM (Salt Lake Animal Advocacy Movement) were given a tour of the farm by caretakers, and shown that the farm was empty. The caretakers stated the farm had moved to Benjamin, Utah. The new address of that farm has not yet been released, and it is not known if the raid influenced that move.