Estimated 10,000 mink on the loose in rural US town after vandals open cages

Vandalism has freed thousands of mink at a rural US farm, leaving an estimated 10,000 of the small carnivorous mammals unaccounted for.

So many minks were killed crossing a nearby road that a plough was brought in to help clear the carcasses away, said Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas Riggenbach.

The Ohio property owner initially estimated 25,000 to 40,000 mink were released from their cages at Lion Farms, Riggenbach said.

READ MORE: Mum told illness 'was in her head' had nation's fifth most common killer

But he said employees at the farm were able to corral many of the ones that remained on the property, which is less than 24 kilometres from the Indiana state line.

He declined to discuss any potential motive for the overnight vandalism or say whether any suspect has been identified as his office investigates.

A farm manager told WANE-TV that someone left a spray-painted message of the letters "ALF" and the phrase "we'll be back".

A group known as the Animal Liberation Front had previously claimed credit for releasing a much smaller number of mink at the farm in a previous incident years ago, the Times Bulletin in Van Wert reported.

READ MORE: The front page that will infuriate Donald Trump

Calls to a phone number listed for the farm were unanswered Tuesday, and it wasn't accepting messages.

The sheriff's office initially warned residents in the area to be cautious with poultry flocks, small pets and koi ponds that the mink might attack, but it later said the freed mink are considered domesticated and likely lack the skills to survive in the wild.

READ MORE: Illicit donkey skin trade a 'ticking time bomb' for disease spread

The sheriff urged people who spot them not to approach them, and to contact the farm or trappers for recapturing.

He said residents who want to hunt or trap mink must make sure they understand what related rules and exemptions apply in their area.