The Cruelty of Fur Farms
Approximately 30 million animals are raised in cages and killed worldwide for fur every year. Minks are the animals most commonly raised on fur farms, but foxes, chinchillas, rabbits, dogs and other animals are also victims. Animals raised on fur farms live in intense confinement, and suffer psychologically. Neurotic behaviors include pacing, circling, self-mutilation, and throwing themselves against the sides of their wire cages. Caged foxes will resort to cannibalism. Although some animals die from disease, stress, cannibalism and self-mutilation, enough survive to make the endeavor profitable.
Confinement
In the wild, a male mink has a range of approximately 2,500 acres. A female has a range of 40 acres. On a fur farm, a mink is typically confined in a cage measuring 12 inches by 18 inches.
Inbreeding
Minks are also inbred in the quest for certain coat colors, which leads to genetic defects. Hedlund white minks are deaf, and the pastel mink suffers from “screw neck,” in which the animals tilt their heads up because of a lack of gravity receptors in the inner ear.
Methods of Killing
Methods of killing on fur farms include breaking the animal’s neck, gassing, lethal injection, genital electrocution and anal electrocution. In 2008, New York became the first state in the U.S. to ban electrocution as a method of killing on fur farms.
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