Breeding

Throughout the fur farming practices, there are many factors for the producers to consider. Breeding plays an integral role as farmers want to produce the finest fur. Therefore long-term artificial selection targeting traits related to coat quality, animal size, and pelt length have been common (Wierzbicki et al., 2004).

Housing

The farming practices often operate under conditions unnatural to the animals and are not always conducive to providing adequate welfare. Current mink fur farms generally house mink singly in individual wire mesh cages, measuring approximately 1 foot wide, 1 foot high, and 3 feet deep, that contain a water nipple and sometimes a nesting box (Mason et al., 2001).  The application of this single-housing lifestyle on fur farms can deny the animal of social interactions necessary for the preservation of the captive animal’s wellbeing, especially during early development (Hovland et al., 2011).

Euthanasia Procedures

Farmers are responsible for their animals’ care from birth to death. Mink are generally euthanized with bottled carbon monoxide gas. When harvest time comes around, a mobile unit is brought to the cages to eliminate stress that might be caused by transporting them long distances. The loading, unloading and transporting process is generally much more stressful for the animals than the actual slaughtering operation. This mobile unit includes a specially designed airtight container which has been prefilled with gas. The animals are placed inside and immediately rendered unconscious, and die quickly and humanely (Korhonen et al., 2012).