Mink farming for fur is being phased out across Europe following welfare concerns about housing semi-aquatic, wide-ranging animals in small wire cages.
The mink farming welfare debate centres on a fundamental incompatibility: mink are wild-natured, wide-ranging semi-aquatic animals whose natural behaviour patterns cannot be expressed in small wire cages. The prevalence of stereotypic behaviours in cage-housed mink — considered indicators of poor welfare and frustration of motivated behaviours — is among the highest recorded for any farmed species. The wave of European bans reflects a scientific and policy consensus that mink welfare cannot be adequately protected in commercial cage systems.