Mink farming has been banned or significantly restricted in many countries — the welfare science behind these decisions.
Mink farming offers one of the clearest demonstrations in animal welfare science of an industry where the welfare of the animals is fundamentally incompatible with the production method. Mink are semi-aquatic, territorial, solitary animals who need to swim, hunt, and range across substantial territories. Wire cage farming denies all of these behavioral needs simultaneously, producing animals with extremely high stereotypy rates that indicate severe and chronic psychological distress. The widespread bans and phase-outs across Europe reflect a political recognition of what the welfare science has demonstrated clearly: mink farming causes unavoidable and severe welfare harm that cannot be remedied within the cage farming model.