Animals: Death by Fright

Minks are famed for their ravenous appetites, their expensive pelts, their cannibalistic habit of devouring their young when frightened. Last week in Astoria, Ore., William and Emil Urell, operators of a mink farm, appeared before a board of officers from a nearby Coast Guard station, claimed the U. S. Coast Guard owed them $6,750 for damages. Right after the whelping season, they testified, a Coast Guard amphibian plane whizzed over their farm within 150 feet of the ground. The mother minks, terror-stricken by the drumming racket, dashed wildly about the cages, seized their...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!