In 2013, the Netherlands voted to close all mink fur farms by 2024. But COVID-19 has led the Dutch government to shut down the industry a whole lot sooner – by the end of this year, in fact!
“Keeping thousands of mink in crowded, filthy and stressful conditions is a recipe for extreme animal suffering and biological disasters,” says Brigit Oele, Program Manager at Fur Free Alliance. “We welcome today’s vote by Dutch MPs to shut down mink fur farms in the Netherlands and prioritize welfare concerns over the industry’s interests.”
The country is one of the top producers of mink fur and among 24 nations that still consider mink farming to be legal, but that is now changing. The Dutch parliament has voted to not reopen the mink fur farms which had removed their mink and closed during the coronavirus lockdowns. They also passed a motion that asked the government to compensate mink farmers to close their operations by the end of 2020.
