The Naughty Nineties & New Labour.
Naturalists tried to buy and develop land at Onneley.
Animal Liberation Army members broke into a mink farm at Onneley and freed several hundred mink and fears ran high for domestic and wild life locally.
Local Labour Councillor Betty Sumnall was Mayor Of Newcastle for a year.
The Bridge Inn was converted to an Indian Restaurant.
1998, Dave Burnley from Madeley entered and won a competition run by the Evening Sentinel to ask a question to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair in person and at 10, Downing Street.
British trappers hunt several hundred minks still on the run.
Story posted Saturday, 19-Sep-98 10:24:28
Associated Press
ONNELEY, England – Trappers scurried to round up hundreds of minks still loose Friday after animal rights protesters freed thousands from a breeding farm.
About 7,000 minks were released Thursday, but fewer than 1,000 escaped from the farm compound. Many were later found run over or shot.
“It is still horrendous out there, it looks like a battlefield,” said Len Kelsall, who owns the farm in Onneley, Staffordshire, 250 miles north-west of London. “It is just starting to hit me now how bad this is.”
The Animal Liberation Front, a shadowy extremist group linked to similar actions, has claimed responsibility for the raid.
Minks, which are bred for their fur and are known as vicious predators, pose a threat to wildlife and domesticated animals. Police have warned local residents to keep doors and windows closed to safeguard their pets.
The raid was the second time British activists have struck the fur industry in as many months.
In August, supporters of the Animal Liberation Front smashed cages and cut wire at a fur farm near Ringwood, 100 miles south-west of London, freeing 2,000 minks – some of which are still running wild.