New research verifies farmed mink are bored

New research verifies farmed mink are bored

A study shows mink kept on fur farms are bored, and one analysis suggests this is a sign of psychological harm.

The paper, ‘Boredom-like states in mink and their behavioural correlates: A replicate study’, was published this month in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science. The experiment in it – to see if mink in “suboptimal” environments show an “elevated interest in diverse stimuli” – is a redo of a previous study. The original, as well as this latest study conducted at Ontario’s Guelph University, do show that mink appear to experience boredom.

It seems a bit obvious – take active, curious, but solitary animals who hunt in open water, and put them in a small cage without any of the stuff they’d have in nature, and the result is a bored animal. Faunalytics, a website that shares research to help animal advocates, described the experiment in an article. They also noted that, “the University of Guelph is a key player in research on captive mink. But its publications tend to focus on ways that the industry can improve conditions for mink only as a means of making more profit.”

The Faunalytics article goes on to conclude that “for animal advocates, the study adds further weight to results from a previous study. It also confirms what we already know: that captivity can foster psychologically damaging situations in all kinds of animal.”

The study provides quantifiable evidence of something most rational, emotionally mature people would assume: animals don’t like being in cages, and they get bored pretty easily. It also confirms what we already know we have to do to protect the animals killed by the fur industry – #MakeFurHistory.


monthly donor(for as little as $10/month – the cost of two lattes) pleaseclick hereand help us save lives today.

Help Make A Difference

Join The Fur-Bearers today and help us protect fur-bearing animals in the wild and confinement. To become a monthly donor (for as little as $10/month – the cost of two lattes) please click here and help us save lives today. Your donation is tax-deductible.

Tags

Latest Posts

Defender Radio

00.00
Listen To The Latest
  • Listen To The Latest

About Us

Established in 1953, The Fur-Bearers is a charitable, non-partisan organization whose goals are to end the commercial fur trade and promote solutions for wildlife coexistence in communities. Your donation is tax-deductible. Charitable registration number: 130006125RR0002

Pin It on Pinterest

Scroll to Top