As mink fur farming bans spread across Europe and beyond, the welfare of remaining farmed mink and the transition pathways for farmers are urgent issues. Mink in wire battery systems suffer significantly.
Mink are among the farmed animals for which scientific evidence most clearly indicates that commercially viable housing systems cannot meet their basic welfare needs. The species is highly motivated to swim and range widely — frustration of these drives in barren wire cages causes the stereotypic behaviours that affect the majority of farmed mink. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted additional harms: mass culls of millions of mink across Europe involved significant animal welfare compromises. While bans protect animals in covered jurisdictions, the global burden of mink farming welfare problems has partially shifted to countries without bans. Supporting the global phase-out of commercial mink fur farming is one of the clearest animal welfare interventions available to consumers and policymakers.