Fur farming
Fur farming is the practice of breeding or raising certain types of animals for their fur.
Most of the world's farmed fur was produced by European farmers. In 2018, there were 5,000 fur farms in the EU, located across 22 countries; these areas of production collectively accounted for 50% of the global production of farmed fur. However, by 2023 only 11 countries in the EU still farmed animals for fur, and three of these countries had issued a legal ban on the activity effective within several years.
The EU accounted for 63% of global mink production and 70% of [|fox] production. Globally, the top fur producers were [|China] and Finland. Denmark was also leading, accounting for approximately 28% of world mink fur production, until its government culled all of the farmers' stocks without legal authority in 2020.
The United States is a major exporter of fur skins. Major export markets include China, Russia, Canada, and the EU. Exports to Asia as a share of total exports grew from 22% in 1998 to 47% in 2002. As of 2012, Russia was reported to be the world's biggest sales market for fur. China has been the world's largest importer of fur pelts and the largest exporter of finished fur products.
Fur farming has been banned in the United Kingdom, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Belgium, Slovakia, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Latvia. In Switzerland and Germany, the regulations for fur farming are very strict, with the result that there are no fur farms. Denmark, France and Hungary introduced a ban on fur farming of certain species, while Spain announced a plan in 2022 to close down all "American " fur farms by 2030. Fur farming was not present as of 2023 in Portugal and Cyprus. The last fur farm in Japan was closed in 2016.
Demand fell in the late 1980s and 1990s as a result of a number of factors, including the efforts of animal rights campaigners and the failure of designers to come up with exciting new lines. Since the turn of the millennium, however, sales worldwide have soared to record highs, fueled by radically new techniques for working with fur, and a sharp rise in disposable income in China and Russia. This growing demand has led to the development of extensive fur farming operations in China and Poland.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, mink turned out to be very susceptible to human–mink infection, sparking fears of widespread outbreaks and mutations in the mink farm populations of many countries that could in turn infect humans with different strains of the coronavirus, making it potentially immune for a COVID-19 vaccine. Several mink farms in the Netherlands have been entirely culled since June 2020, and in August 2020 the phaseout of fur farming was accelerated from 1 January 2024 to 1 March 2021. In July 2020, Spain culled 100,000 mink. On 6 November 2020, Denmark announced it would cull its entire 17 million mink population as an emergency measure to prevent the spread of a mutated strain of COVID-19, of which at least five cases were found. On 11 November, the Netherlands again moved the phase-out forward, now putting 1 January 2021 as the target date to limit the risk of mutation. Kopenhagen Fur announced mid-November it would gradually cease operations in 2–3 years because the circumstances had critically undermined the future of the global fur trade.
History
While wearing fur clothing in cold weather as protection goes back to the Stone Age, the source for this material came from the wild. As human populations grew, furs, leathers, and hides for use in clothing came from farm stock, such as sheep, rabbits, cattle, pigs, and goats. Archaeologists have discovered evidence of red fox breeding in the late Iron Age on Orkney, off the northern coast of Scotland. After the attack of the Vikings in Scotland around 800 CE, the breeding is said to have stopped. The earliest records of breeding mink for fur in North America were in the 1860s. Foxes were first raised on farms for fur in Prince Edward Island in Canada in 1895.Historically, the fur trade played an important economic role in the United States. Fur trappers explored and opened up large parts of North America, and the fashion for beaver hats led to intense competition for the raw materials. Starting in the latter half of the 20th century, producers and wearers of fur have been criticized by animal rights activists because of the cruelty involved in animal trapping, and because of the widespread availability of inexpensive substitutes including natural fibers as well as synthetic fibers. In 1991, New York Times journalist John F. Burns described the American fur industry as "shrinking with no end in sight."
Today, 85 percent of the fur clothing industry's pelts come from animals raised on farms. The rest is from animals caught in the wild. The most farmed fur-bearing animal is the mink, followed by the fox. Asiatic and Finnish raccoon and chinchilla are also farmed for their fur. As of 2008, 64 percent of fur farms were in Northern Europe, 11 percent in North America, and the rest were dispersed throughout the world, in countries such as Argentina and Russia.
Species
Mink
have been farmed for fur in the United States for 130 years, though domestic demand for fur started to decline rapidly by the late 1980s. In 2010, the U.S. ranked fifth in production behind Denmark, China, the Netherlands, and Poland. Mink typically breed in March and give birth to their litters in May. Farmers vaccinate the young kits for botulism, distemper, enteritis, and, if needed, pneumonia. They are slaughtered in November and December. Methods for euthanizing animals on fur farms, as on all farms, are detailed in the American Veterinary Medical Association's Report on Euthanasia which is used as a guideline for state departments of agriculture which have jurisdiction over all farms raising domesticated livestock, including mink.The white mink, a northern European breed, was introduced into Canada in 1968. Most mink production in Canada occurs in Nova Scotia which, with 116 licensed farms in 2016, generated revenues of nearly $54 million by contributing approximately 1.4 million pelts to global markets. That accounted for an average of half of all Canada's mink pelts. Production of black mink in particular has grown significantly since 2000, with emerging markets in Russia, China, and South Korea accounting for most of the new demand. Black mink was first bred in Nova Scotia in the late 1950s and has proven popular as a versatile colour. Most Nova Scotia fur product is sold in China where it is manufactured into luxury garments.
Chinchilla
The international trade in chinchilla fur goes back to the 16th century and the animal is named after the Chincha people of the Andes, who wore its soft, dense fur. By the end of the 19th century, chinchillas had become quite rare. In 1923, Mathias F. Chapman brought the eleven wild chinchillas he had captured to the U.S. for breeding. Only three of these were female. Empress Chinchilla is the breeders association for the chinchilla farmers, many of whom are based in the United States, including California. Empress Chinchilla runs a certification program for farmers..Fox
is the world's leading producer of fox pelts. In the United States, fox production is about 10,000 pelts, produced in about 10 states. Canada produces ten to fifteen times as many fox furs as the USA.Dog and cat
The United States banned the import, export, and sale of products made from dog and cat fur in 2000.Italy, France, Denmark, Greece, Belgium, and Australia ban the import of domestic cat and dog fur but the sale is still quasi-legal.
In most countries, novelty items made from farmed cat and dog fur is available in the form of animal toys or as trim on garments like boots, jackets and handbags. The European Union banned imports in 2009.
Rabbit
The main breed in the rabbit fur farming industry is the Rex. Breeding animals are kept for up to three years, and usually give birth twice a year. The kits are taken from their mothers at 4 weeks old and put in a nursery with other kits. After this, the mothers are kept separated from their kits, and they get put together only for feeding. When the kits are 7 to 8 weeks old, they are put in solitary cages, where they are kept for about 6–7 months, and are slaughtered after they have shed their winter fur. The rabbits are kept in bare wire mesh cages. A cage for one rabbit has the floor space of about two shoe boxes. The mortality rate for caged Rex is 10–15%, mostly from respiratory disease.Farmed mink production cycle
Conditioning and breeding (December – March)
During this time of year, ranchers are primarily focused on bringing their selected mink into a good condition that is suitable for breeding. Mink are a monoestrous species that undergo delayed implantation when bred successfully, this means that the breeding season can be the most strenuous time of year both in terms of animal nutrition and human labor. It is essential that management practices employ a feeding program that maintains a nutritional diet that is adequate for both male and female mink. A feeding program that encourages the removal of excess weight and an environment that facilitates an increase in exercise is important for good production and a successful whelp. Mink are usually fed once or twice a day during the growing season; on most farms they are fed the same quantity of food on all cages and close to an ad libitum amount so that 50% of all cages have feed left over the next day. In addition to fur quality and production traits, breeder selection should concentrate on health andtemperament to improve the welfare of the herd.
Breeding records are kept for each individual mink, this includes information on the dates of mating, genetics involving family lineage, reproductive success, health status, and fur characteristics.