As more countries ban mink farming, welfare questions arise during the transition period and for retired breeding animals. Ensuring humane wind-down of operations is a welfare obligation.
Post-ban mink welfare requires attention to both the animals in existing operations and the conditions leading to farm closure. Mink are semi-aquatic mustelids whose natural behavioural drives — swimming, hunting, ranging over large territories — are almost entirely frustrated in cage farming systems. The prevalence of stereotypic behaviours including repetitive pacing, self-mutilation, and infanticide in cage-farmed mink is evidence of severe welfare compromise in the system. During pandemic culling events, mass killing of millions of mink raised further welfare concerns about killing methods applied at speed. For farms in ban transition periods, welfare oversight is needed to prevent neglect of animals whose economic value has ended. The long-term welfare benefit of banning mink farming is substantial — but achieving it humanely requires careful management of the transition.