Thank you writing about this important topic! I’ve been co-running fur farming ban campaign for more than 10 years in Poland (as co-founder of Otwarte Klatki, part of Anima International) so I’ll try to response to some things here from more practical point of view.
Build nets to stop bird:mink contact.
From my experience with fur farming industry, this is going to be very difficult. Several years ago Polish government introduced regulation to force mink farms to have double fencing around the farms. It was supposed to limit the number of minks escaping the farms. It took several years for the farms to adjust and some even today break this basic regulation, with no reaction from the government or institutions. We published this report back then (sorry, it is in Polish). This is example of small adjustment but it took years and still it hasn’t been fully implemented.
Next problem is that minks still escape from the farms to the wild. And other animals dig under the fences to get into the farms. Here you can see the video showing rats in the mink farm.
Shifting from wet to dry food
Mink feed is distributed by special vehicles prepared for wet food. I suppose such change would require also change of technique of delivering the feed. You can see the feeding in this video. Moreover, in most cases the feed is brought to the farms, not prepared at the farm. Especially in bigger facilities.
Despite falling demand, as of December 2022 about 100 million minks are killed for pelts annually, meaning there are about 50 million in pelt farms at any given time.
I think this number is wrong. In this article there is information about 27 million of all animals killed for fur in China. In this document from China Leather Industry Association it is mentioned that mink fur production in China in 2021 was under 7 million. In Poland, the 2nd biggest mink producer, there are 5-7 million minks. Also “50 million in pelt farms at any given time” is wrong information. Mink farms have biggest number of animals between June and December and then only breeding animals are kept (I think around 10-20% of the capacity).
In Polish mink farms there are outbreaks of sars-cov-2 being detected every few weeks. From people living near the farms I know that no restrictions required by laws are implemented in the farms where sars-cov-2 is detected. No masks. Some workers travel between several mink farms. This problem is completely ignored by farmers and institutions that are supposed to control the farms.
All of this makes me pretty certain that it could be easier to ban mink farming (or fur farming) completely than to try to implement some small adjustments. Advocating for fur farming ban is much easier in the public debate than advocating for adjustments in mink farms. However, I’m writing here mostly about Europe because I don’t know enough about situation in China.
And finally I will add here that European Citizen Initiative Fur Free Europe has already collected over 1.5 millions signatures. The Initiative calls for both fur farming ban and for fur import ban. If succesful, this could impact global market.
If you think I could provide some information from Poland where still 5-7 million minks are killed for fur, please let me know.
Thank you writing about this important topic! I’ve been co-running fur farming ban campaign for more than 10 years in Poland (as co-founder of Otwarte Klatki, part of Anima International) so I’ll try to response to some things here from more practical point of view.
From my experience with fur farming industry, this is going to be very difficult. Several years ago Polish government introduced regulation to force mink farms to have double fencing around the farms. It was supposed to limit the number of minks escaping the farms. It took several years for the farms to adjust and some even today break this basic regulation, with no reaction from the government or institutions. We published this report back then (sorry, it is in Polish). This is example of small adjustment but it took years and still it hasn’t been fully implemented.
Next problem is that minks still escape from the farms to the wild. And other animals dig under the fences to get into the farms. Here you can see the video showing rats in the mink farm.
Mink feed is distributed by special vehicles prepared for wet food. I suppose such change would require also change of technique of delivering the feed. You can see the feeding in this video. Moreover, in most cases the feed is brought to the farms, not prepared at the farm. Especially in bigger facilities.
I think this number is wrong. In this article there is information about 27 million of all animals killed for fur in China. In this document from China Leather Industry Association it is mentioned that mink fur production in China in 2021 was under 7 million. In Poland, the 2nd biggest mink producer, there are 5-7 million minks.
Also “50 million in pelt farms at any given time” is wrong information. Mink farms have biggest number of animals between June and December and then only breeding animals are kept (I think around 10-20% of the capacity).
In Polish mink farms there are outbreaks of sars-cov-2 being detected every few weeks. From people living near the farms I know that no restrictions required by laws are implemented in the farms where sars-cov-2 is detected. No masks. Some workers travel between several mink farms. This problem is completely ignored by farmers and institutions that are supposed to control the farms.
All of this makes me pretty certain that it could be easier to ban mink farming (or fur farming) completely than to try to implement some small adjustments. Advocating for fur farming ban is much easier in the public debate than advocating for adjustments in mink farms. However, I’m writing here mostly about Europe because I don’t know enough about situation in China.
And finally I will add here that European Citizen Initiative Fur Free Europe has already collected over 1.5 millions signatures. The Initiative calls for both fur farming ban and for fur import ban. If succesful, this could impact global market.
If you think I could provide some information from Poland where still 5-7 million minks are killed for fur, please let me know.