Update: Raided mink farm denied permit, expected to close
Days after every animal was released from a Colorado mink farm, the county rejected its permit to relocate.
On Thursday, the Earth Liberation Front took credit for releasing at least 200 mink from the only known fur farm in Colorado. The farmer immediately announced the farm would have to close.
But there was one wrinkle to the story: The farm was in the process of relocating to a nearby property, and was awaiting approval of a permit to operate there.
Today Moffat county commissioners denied the farm’s permit to relocate.
Because the farm was being forced to move because of its proximity to nearby homes, and the farm has nowhere to move, its future is looking certain: The fur farm appears to be out of business.
Farm likely to shut down anyway
The denial of the permit may be moot, as the farmer announced after Thursday’s raid that he is shutting down the farm:
I won’t be doing the mink anymore. I can’t afford to… get back into it. I’m really tired of fighting.” – mink farm owner Doyle Checketts
Despite shutdown, owner of new location claimed to be going ahead with mink farm
After the announcement the farm would be shutting down, Sherman Romney, the owner of the property where the farm was slated to relocate, told the media he intended to go forward with a fur farm permit. Presumably, he either intended to open a mink farm himself, or find another fur farmer willing to relocate there.
While unclear, whatever plans this property owner had are now officially dead. The county denied the permit, and no one can legally operate a mink farm on the property.
The end
We will post any confirmed updates as we learn of them, but for now the conclusion to this story appears to be this: Animal liberators raided the only (known) fur farm in Colorado, and shut it down forever.
