Prince Edward Island has approved a proposal for a 13th mink farm to set up in December following an environmental impact assessment and some high-profile opposition.
“The environmental impact assessment is a thorough review of the operation to ensure there will be no harmful impacts on the environment,” provincial Environment Minister Richard Brown said in a release Tuesday.
The public was invited to provide input on the proposal, which the provincial ag department also reviewed, and “I am satisfied that the issues raised have been addressed by the proponent,” Brown said.
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The “proponent” in this case was Cornwall-area producer Ryan MacPhee, whose proposal involves two 25-by-250-foot pole barns to house 2,000 female mink and their kits on Highway 225 at Springton, about 20 km west of Charlottetown.
MacPhee’s submitted proposal calls for the 2,000 breeding females to arrive on the 108-acre property in December, with the animals and their young to remain there until the following December, after which the process begins again at 2,000.
MacPhee planned to begin building the barns by Sept. 10 for completion by Dec. 1, with six rows of cages in each barn.
“All manure will fall on the cement floor and (be) taken off site,” which would deal with any potential odour or runoff issues, he wrote. “Also, all euthanized mink will be taken off site for pelting. There will be no waste left on site.”
CBC earlier this month reported about 100 area residents had petitioned for a public hearing, quoting one resident, Allistair MacIntosh, as saying he felt the residents’ concerns about environmental impact were going unheard.
“All we want is no mink farm. It’s as simple as that,” the broadcaster quoted him as saying.
MacPhee’s proposal also spawned a write-in campaign last month by the high-profile animal welfare group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which on its website described mink as “solitary, semiaquatic animals who can occupy up to 2,500 acres of wetland habitat in the wild.”
On mink farms, PETA said, the animals are “crammed into wire cages and are never allowed to feel the earth under their feet or dive into a cool stream. In addition to denying minks everything that’s natural and important to them, fur farms contribute to climate change, land devastation, pollution and water contamination.”
The group’s campaign had urged the public to send emails to the province’s environment department to deny MacPhee’s permit.
