These regulations are similar to those of Nova Scotia – ridiculously full of loopholes and half-statements that will ignore the basic biological needs of mink, seeking only to maximize profits for a disgusting industry.
“The stock-keeper must be aware of the role of animal welfare in the daily work with the mink and must be able to recognise whether the total environment is adequate to keep the mink healthy and if it provides for the fulfilment of their biological needs, including those to show certain behaviours.”
It certainly sounds friendly enough: fulfilling the biological needs of mink. But mink are a semi-aquatic species who spend up to 60 per cent of their time in water. They are extremely independent and have territories stretching as far as three kilometres. In a mink farm, including those outlined in this atrocity of policy, the poor animals are kept in small cages without access to water, alongside hundreds – or thousands – of other mink. These conditions are the complete opposite of the biological needs of mink.
Please email these two contacts now and tell them mink farming has no place in Ireland or anywhere that modern society calls home.
Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur/WeAnimals.org
