No need for mink farms to exist
Re: Mink farms in the news, and ‘Who needs mink anyway?’
A horrible fate for factory farmed animals is in the news yet once again. This time it is farmed mink, and the animals are being destroyed due to COVID-19 spreading between them and the farm workers. While the COVID-19 coronavirus is clearly threatening all of us right now, there is an even larger threat in that the virus can mutate as it crosses between species, and a mutated form might not be subject to the vaccines. So the animals are culled to prevent another disaster. Denmark just culled 17 million mink for the same reason.
Beyond the pandemic that we hope will soon be behind us, what about these animals that are confined by the thousands (or millions) in filthy, cramped wire cages the size of a shoe box? What a sad, miserable life. Having just read that 9,000 laying hens were killed by fire here in Cowichan, the same thought occurred to me. Of course we rely on eggs, notwithstanding they can always be purchased from small farms rather than grocery stores supplied by factory farms, but who relies on mink? I mean to say, why are mink even being farmed at all?
A B.C. organization called The Fur-Bearers was formed back in 1953 with a goal of ending the commercial fur trade. Their website states that there are currently 13 mink farms in B.C., and that the conditions these animals are kept in are ideal for a coronavirus to spread and mutate. Animal suffering and environmental pollution on these farms is well documented. Their site also states that fur farming is not an economic driver for B.C. or Canada, and that 81 per cent of Canadians say they oppose killing animals for their fur. Many countries throughout the world have already banned fur farming, in fact, thousands of companies and brands have now gone fur-free.
The final and most important fact is that textile innovation has completely replaced the need for animal fur. We don’t need mink, and these animals deserve better than to live their short lives in misery and disease. Mink farms have now become a public health concern, and it’s time to transition these businesses to something better or nothing at all.
Jacqueline Sherk
Lake Cowichan