This is not meant to fuel a debate on MF nor any argument of personal
philosophies, just a legitimate question regarding the euthanasia practices,
and the sharing of a personal experience.  I once witnessed the method of
"euthanasia*" used at a mink farm [*certainly not a technically appropriate
term for this practice but I noticed the same term used in reference to MF's
practices of exterminating their breeders, so for the sake of continuity...]
First, I want to tell you that prior to this exposure, I relegated the
notion of mink farming to that of beef or chicken.  While I never believed
in exotic furs, I felt minks were "domesticated stock" perfectly suitable
for farming.  After witnessing the results of minks being kept in small
cages {they actually experience a psychosis which manifest as repeated
indentical circling movements and a series of other identical repetative
motions}, and watching the "farmers" grabbing the mink by their head and
twisting while all the time the mink was twisting all about putting up quite
a struggle prior to its neck being snapped.  I suddenly had a deep and
lasting change of heart.  Mind you, all of this was before I even knew what
a ferret was [their similarities both physically and behaviorally are
striking].  Anyway, even for the experienced mink "farmer", this practice of
euthanasia was neither as quick nor as clean as you might imagine [wily
little things, aren't they?], but it is highly cost effective.  So with all
this talk about MF and their euthanasia of breeder ferrets I began to wonder
what methods they used.  Does anyone actually know?
[Posted in FML issue 1817]