Mink farming for fur has been banned in over 20 countries due to welfare concerns. Understanding why mink fare so poorly in captivity illuminates broader questions about farming semi-wild predators.
The welfare case against mink farming is among the strongest in animal agriculture. Mink are behaviorally adapted for semi-aquatic predatory lifestyles involving wide-ranging movement, swimming, and complex territorial behavior. Wire cage confinement prevents all of these behaviors completely. The welfare consequences are severe and consistent — stereotypic pacing, self-mutilation, and abnormal aggression are near-universal in intensive mink facilities. These behaviors are not produced by individual farm quality differences; they reflect fundamental incompatibility between mink biology and commercial cage confinement. The wave of national bans on mink farming reflects growing recognition that no amount of management improvement can make wire cage mink farming compatible with adequate welfare standards.