Fur farming for fashion products involves housing wild-natured carnivores including mink, foxes, and raccoon dogs in small wire cages, with severe welfare consequences that have driven bans across Europe.
Fur farming imposes welfare costs that stem from a fundamental mismatch between the natural history of the animals farmed and the production systems used. These are wild carnivores with complex territorial, predatory, and social needs being housed in cages designed for maximum efficiency rather than welfare. The high prevalence of stereotypic behaviour across species and facilities demonstrates that these welfare harms are systemic rather than management failures in individual farms. The European phase-out trend reflects regulatory recognition of this systemic welfare failure. Consumer rejection of fur products provides the market pressure that accelerates legislative phase-outs.