BERLIN (AFP) -- German conservationists on Monday condemned the freeing of some 17,000 minks from a fur farm, apparently by animal rights activists, saying they would starve in the wild.

""It was a political act, and it has nothing to do with protecting the environment,"" said Joern Ehlers from the German chapter of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
""These animals are going to die of hunger.""
Minks are carnivores who feed on small animals and those freed from the farm in Grabow, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Berlin, risked disturbing the ecological balance in the region, he said.
Thomas Pietsch from animal conservation group ""Vier Pfote"" (Four Paws) agreed, describing the move as ""silliness"".
""These American minks are going to upset the balance of the eco system. They will not be able to survive because they have not learnt to hunt and will end up crushed by cars,"" he told AFP.
He added that fur farms would soon be a thing of the past in Germany as a new law, passed in 2006, sets such strict conditions that farming fur will no longer be profitable.
""In four to nine years, there will not be fur farms in Germany.""
The minks were freed overnight on Thursday, sparking frantic efforts to capture them.
More than 50 soldiers, firemen and volunteers have been combing the woods around Grabow and have managed to catch about a third of the furry mammals, police spokesman Frank Weitert said.
So far, nobody has claimed responsibility for freeing the minks.