American mink escaped or released from fur farms have established invasive populations across Europe and South America, causing severe welfare harm to native water voles, ground-nesting birds, and other prey.
Invasive mink welfare management requires the same careful ethical analysis as any invasive species control. Mink are sentient, highly intelligent animals capable of experiencing pain and distress. Cage trapping followed by killing is the primary control method and causes stress and a welfare harm to individual mink. However, allowing mink populations to go unmanaged causes ongoing welfare harm to native prey — water voles, ducks, terns, and puffins are killed at scale in ways that depress or eliminate local populations. The welfare calculus generally supports humane mink control in sensitive areas, while addressing the root cause — fur farming — through bans and phase-outs.