British Columbia To Phase Out Mink Farming

https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021AFF0066-002112

The province of British Columbia, Canada, announced plans to end mink farming within the province after a slew of covid related incidents on farms throughout the province. The plans include a permanent ban on breeding mink, a permanent ban on live mink on farms by April 2023, and a complete phase out of the industry by 2025. There are initiatives for farmers and financial support to help them transition to other farming opportunities as the industry is phased out. This is monumental for minks!

The covid-19 pandemic really brought to light how susceptible the fur-farming industry was to being disrupted. Mink on farms across the planet contracted covid and were recognized as being easily able to transfer covid to humans. In some cases, millions of mink were euthanized in order to contain the spread of the virus, rupturing the industry and resulting in millions of dollars of lost revenue. Several fur farms across our planet were either temporarily or permanently shuttered as a result of the virus spreading, demonstrating yet another reason why fur-farming needs to go.

As we know, fur-farming is an industry rooted in exploitation and cruelty. Animals bred solely for their fur are discarded like trash after they are skinned for their pelts. They are bred in less than ideal conditions and suffer tremendously throughout their short lives. They often lack appropriate food / water access, live in squalor, and have to witness other mink being killed resulting in emotional and mental turmoil. All of this cruelty for novelty products; products like fur jackets, fur-trimmed hoods, or useless trinkets. There is no necessity in fur, further proving how needless and unnecessary the fur industry is. All of this cruelty on top of the fact that these animals have had to endure covid and be euthanized in mass quantities is enough of a reason to determine that fur-farming needs to be done away with permanently.

Fur-farming is on the way out! There are an endless amount of fashion brands, towns, cities, states, and countries that enacted bans on some part of the fur industry. A lot of this happened prior to the pandemic, signaling an end to the industry. The pandemic is simply moving this process along as we recognize how easy it is to completely derail the industry due to virus' and disease. 

​British Columbia will be officially fur-farm free by 2025. While this is a victory for minks, there is still much work to do before we see fur-farming phased out globally. Learn more about BC's decision through the link attached at the top of this post.

HAPPY VEG