Last week, Congressman Adriano Espaillat (D-NY-13) introduced new legislation prohibiting the farming of mink for their fur. The bill, Mink: Vectors for Infection Risk in the United States (the Mink VIRUS Act, H.R. 3783), seeks to protect public health and human safety by implementing a one-year phase-out period of all domestic mink fur farms, and implements a program to compensate farmers as they transition out of the fur farming industry.
Mink, especially when kept confined in close quarters on fur farms, incubate zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19. Because the minks’ upper respiratory tract is exceptionally well suited to be a conduit to humans’, mink fur farms create the perfect conditions for new mutations of zoonotic diseases which can jump to humans – possibly creating the next global health crisis.
Indeed, the reports over the lats year have shown that the highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) has mutated and spread to mink on fur farms in Spain, with health experts warning we may be on the brink of a new pandemic. Rep. Espaillat’s bill would remove this very real danger posed by mink farming by shutting down the industry in the United States.
Said Angela Grimes, CEO of Born Free USA: “The threat to animal welfare and public safety posed by mink fur farming is not going to go away and each year that this unnecessary, cruel, and dangerous practice is allowed to continue, the more animals suffer, and the more likely new disease outbreaks become. Having endured the tragedy of COVID-19, surely it is time for humankind to take these threats seriously and do all we can to protect animals and humans alike from harm. No fur coat is worth the suffering caused by fur farming, and no fashion item can justify the risk of a new pandemic”.
“Mink farming poses a severe and urgent problem to public safety as numerous studies have shown the animals are highly susceptible to COVID-19 and can transmit a mutated form of the virus back to humans,” said Rep. Espaillat. “As communities around the nation are continuing to recover from the devastation brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak that include health implications and economic shutdowns, we must put forth new and improved safety protocols and disincentivize mink farms that hinder our progress to recover from the pandemic as well as combat outbreaks of other viruses in the future. My legislation aims to curb mink fur farming and will establish a new federal grant program to reimburse farmers the full value of their farms. We must do all that is possible to ensure protocols are in place that would circumvent and minimize potential future outbreaks of viruses known and unknown to keep our communities safe.”
As well as posing serious risks to public health, fur farming is undeniably cruel. Slaughter on mink farms in the name of fashion is nothing short of brutal and include such abhorrent practices as gassing, cervical dislocation, and electrocution. While they are alive, animals are often crammed at high densities into tiny spaces with little room to move and no space to carry out natural behaviors. This results in severe mental and physical distress, weakened immune systems, and injury. These deplorable conditions only intensify the risk for these mink farms to be a breeding ground for disease.
Meanwhile, the fur industry is in serious decline with compassionate consumers turning away in droves from this outdated and violent “fashion”. In a 2021 poll, it was found that 71% of Americans opposed the killing of animals for their fur.
Born Free USA thanks Rep. Espaillat for safeguarding public health by phasing out mink farms, and urges Congress to take swift action to pass the bill before the next devastating global health crisis is upon us.
