Food poisoning kills thousands of Finnish foxes
Date: 09-Oct-02
Country: FINLAND
Local media said some 20,000 foxes died. Authorities, who said thousands of foxes died at 30 to 40 farms after being fed on Friday, have not ruled out intentional poisoning.
Finland is the world's top fox pelt producer and a leading mink pelt producer.
"They got some sort of poison in their food. But we don't know yet what the stuff is," Finnish Fur Breeders Association spokeswoman Kati Petersen-Waris said.
The National Veterinary and Food Research Institute said it was Finland's biggest animal poisoning case and it was too early to rule out anything.
Animal rights activists have previously released foxes and minks from farms, claiming it is cruel to keep them caged.
Finland produced some 1.7 million fox pelts last year, which were mainly sold abroad.
In neighbouring Norway, another major pelt producer, a 1995 outbreak of botulism killed about 150,000 mink, or over half of the country's production, Petersen-Waris said.