Mink farming confines highly active, semi-aquatic carnivores in small wire cages, creating severe welfare problems that many countries have addressed through outright bans.
Mink farming imposes severe welfare costs on animals that cannot be meaningfully mitigated within intensive farming frameworks. Mink need to swim, run, hunt, and explore large territories — none of which is possible in the standard wire cage. The stereotypic behaviors documented in farmed mink are unambiguous indicators of chronic psychological distress. Unlike some livestock species where welfare can be substantially improved through better management, mink welfare in farming contexts is constrained by the fundamental incompatibility between the species' behavioral needs and what intensive confinement can provide.