Mink farming for the fur trade raises significant animal welfare concerns, and multiple countries have banned the practice while others debate its future.
Mink are wild-derived animals with behavioral needs fundamentally incompatible with cage farming. The inability to swim - an essential behavioral need for mustelids - causes chronic frustration. Wire-floor cages prevent natural substrate interactions. Stereotypic behaviors including repetitive pacing and self-directed aggression are endemic in farmed mink and indicate significant welfare compromise. The COVID-19 mass cullings, while welfare disasters, accelerated bans that were already progressing through regulatory processes in multiple countries.