Project 1882
djurensratt-se/fokusområden/Minkar/mink_hemsk_4
Dismantling the fur industry

European mink farms

There are still millions of minks on fur farms in Europe. Most mink only live to be six months old and live their entire lives in small wire cages. It doesn't have to be like this. Project 1882 is working to phase out mink farms.

This is how Project 1882 works for the mink:

  • Informing the public about the situation of minks. Most recently through the Fur Free Europe campaign and the citizens' initiative.
  • Putting pressure on politicians and authorities to change the laws that affect mink in the fur industry, in Sweden and at EU level.
  • Being part of the international cooperation Fur Free Alliance (FFA), together with over 50 animal rights and animal welfare organizations. Together we work for a world without mink farms.
  • Influencing companies to adopt fur-free policies, which are compiled in the Fur Free List together with FFA worldwide.
djurensratt-se/fokusområden/Minkar/mink_hemsk_3
About minks

Problems with mink fur farming

The number of mink farms in Europe has been reduced from tens of thousands to less than 1000 over the past 50 years. However, the remaining farms have become larger and every year over 7 million mink are born in wire cages to be slaughtered at six months of age. This is solely for their fur, which is sold for luxury consumption in Asia.

Cramped in wire cages

Mink in the fur industry live their entire lives in wire cages. The cages are crammed together in long rows. The European cages are typically the size of an open newspaper, with a small box as a den.(1) A mink's territory in the wild is usually between half a mile and six kilometers long, and always extends along water and several dens.(2) The minks used in the fur industry live their entire lives in wire cages.

Adult minks used for breeding live alone in their cages, as they would otherwise fight each other. After the annual mating season, an average of five mink pups are born per female. They remain in their mother's cage until they are about eight weeks old, when they are placed in their own cages in pairs, usually a female and a male.(3) In the wild, the American mink lives solitarily, completely alone, claiming their own territories. They socialize with other minks only during mating and for the first 12 weeks of their lives.(2)

Mink are fed once or twice a day. The food is a mash of grain and meat and fish products placed on the roof of the cage for the mink to lick.(3) Mink are predators that hunt rodents, fish, shellfish and birds in the wild. Much of their hunting takes place in water and minks are skilled divers and swimmers.(4) They are adapted to live both on land and in water, and are therefore described as semi-aquatic, as evidenced by the fact that they have some webbed skin between the toes of their hind feet.(5)

djurensratt-se/fokusområden/Minkar/mink_hemsk_1

Behavioral Disorders and Cannibalism

The fur industry often claims that mink kept on mink farms are bred to thrive in the cage environment. There is no evidence to support this claim. Instead, research shows that the behaviors and needs of farmed mink largely overlap with those of wild mink.(6) No species has been bred to thrive in cages, no matter how tame they are.

Some of the animal welfare problems that occur on fur farms are that minks exhibit self-mutilation, cannibalism and other behavioral disorders that indicate that they are in extremely poor condition.(7) The most common behavioral disorder found, in a study of Swedish minks, was pacing back and forth along the cage wall.(8) Other welfare problems that have been documented on mink farms include fur biting, as they are never allowed to chew their food (9) and boredom.(10) 

Research has shown that passive mink may have higher levels of stress hormones than those that exhibit behavioral disorders.(11) Thus, the docile animals on mink farms may be the ones who suffer the most because they have no outlet for the stress they build up. Despite this, mink farms often breed from the most docile individuals.(12)

Small changes to the cages, such as the addition of toys or shelves, have not been shown to make a sufficient difference when mink are still in small cages.(8, 13) On the other hand, stereotypes and behavioral disturbances are unlikely to occur when mink are given much more space and access to water.(6) This is a type of animal husbandry that is not economically feasible for the fur industry.

Painful death at the age of six months

In November-December, all minks are killed except those to be used for breeding. Mink pups have by then become six months old and large enough to be skinned for their fur. They are usually killed by placing them several at a time in a covered box filled with carbon dioxide.(14) Inhalation of carbon dioxide is painful for all animals and the method can take a long time, especially if several are placed in the same box.(7) Mink pups less than 14 days old may be killed by a blow to the head.

  1. Regulations in Sweden; SJVFS 2020:23 no. L 103.
  2. Birks J.D.S. & Linn I.J. (1982) Studies of home ranges of the feral mink. Symposia of the Zoological Society of London 49: 231–257.
  3. Djurens välfärd och pälsdjursnäringsutredningen, SOU 2003:86.
  4. Bagniewska J. M. et al. (2015) Persistence in diving American mink. Animal Biotelemetry 3: 18.
  5. Williams T. (1982) Locomotion in the North American mink, a semi-aquatic mammal. Journal of Experimental Biology 103: 155–168.
  6. Schwarzer A. et al. (2016) Behavioral studies on the use of open water basins by American mink (Neovison vison). Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research 13: 19–26.
  7. European Commission (2001) The Welfare of Animals Kept for Fur Production, Report of the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare, Adopted on 12–13 December 2001, Health and Consumer Protection Directorat-General, Directorate C – Scientific Opinions.
  8. Axelsson H.M.K. et al. (2009) Behaviour in female mink housed in enriched standard cages during winter. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 121: 222–229.
  9. Malmkvist J. et al. (2013) Additional foraging elements reduce abnormal behaviour fur-chewing and sterotypic behaviour in farmed mink (Neovison vison). Applied Animal Science 149: 77–86.
  10. Meagher R.K. et al. (2013) Sleeping tight or hiding in fright? The welfare implications of different subtypes of inactivity in mink. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 144: 138–146.
  11. Hansen S.W. & Jeppesen L.L. (2006) Temperament, stereotypies and anticipatory behaviour as measures of welfare in mink. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 99: 172–182.
  12. Kruska D. (1996) The effect of domestication on brain size and composition in the mink (Mustela vison). Journal of Zoology 239(4): 645.
  13. Meagher R.K. et al. (2014) Benefits of a Ball and Chain: Simple Environmental Enrichments Improve Welfare and Reproductive Success in Farmed American Mink (Neovison vison). PLoS ONE9 11: e110589.
  14. Regulations in Sweden; SJVFS 2020:22 no. L 22.