FUR FARMING

I’ve documented fur farms across Europe and Canada since 2009. I have met foxes, raccoon dogs, rabbits, and mink living in conditions that would be considered illegal if the animal were a cat or a dog.

Not enough people know that animals are industrially farmed for their fur. They are unaware of the living conditions, and that the animals are killed by gas or anal electrocution. They are also unaware that the bobbles of fur on their hats, boots, or accessories came from once wild animals. These days, it is often hard to tell if the material is real or fake.

Fur farming may be at a crossroads. Twenty-two countries have now banned the practice, and more are considering similar legislation. When mink were identified as a vector for COVID-19 in 2020, pressure mounted for the industry to transition toward more sustainable and humane livelihoods. That year, Denmark alone became the burial ground for some 17 million mink.

Fur farming poses risks to public and animal health, and has proven to be detrimental to the environment as well. Effluent from farms can cause blue-green algae to bloom in nearby waterways, polluting them irreparably, as well as sickening local wildlife and human communities.

A fox in a fur farm with mange, a missing leg, and self-inflicted injuries to her tail.

A white fox in a small cage at a fur farm. Location undisclosed.

Activists walk through a forest at dawn to investigate a fur farm. Location undisclosed.

Welfare concerns at a mink farm led to an investigation by the Montreal SPCA which resulted in the closure of the farm.

An SPCA veterinarian weighs a euthanized fox at a fur farm.

A dying fox has been euthanized during a fur farm investigation by the Montreal SPCA.

A silver fox in a cage at a fur farm in Quebec. The plastic tube is given to the foxes as enrichment.

A red fox in a cage at a fur farm in Quebec. The plastic tube is given to the foxes as enrichment.

A mink shed in Quebec.

The entry to a mink shed in Quebec. Fur and dirt are entwined in the door's window.

Mink in a standard cage at a fur farm in British Columbia. Codes of practice in Canada state the cage should be 8 in wide × 24 in deep × 16 in high.

Codes of practice in Canada state the cage should be 8 in wide × 24 in deep × 16 in high.

A frozen water dish at a mink farm in Quebec.

Over time, effluent from mink fur farms has shown to cause algal blooms on nearby waterways in Nova Scotia.

The space between sheds at a mink farm in Sweden.

Ten, now eight, mink kits in a nesting box in Sweden. Highly commended at Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Hundreds of bodies and garbage behind a mink farm in Sweden.

Aerial view of a fur farm in Nova Scotia.

Mink on a fur farm in Sweden.

Aerial view of a fur farm in Nova Scotia.

Mink kits cuddle to the body of their dead mother at a fur farm in Sweden.

A mink peers out from a cage he is able to escape at a fur farm in Sweden.

Mink frequently wound and cannibalize one another in the cramped conditions of fur farms. Sweden.

Thousands of illegally disposed and decomposing mink bodies at a fur farm in Sweden.

Activists walk through a forest to investigate a fur farm in Sweden..

A calico fox in a fur farm. Location undisclosed.

A silver fox in a small cage at a fur farm. Location undisclosed.

A family of raccoon dogs at a fur farm. Location undisclosed.

A red fox confined to a bare, wire-floored cage at a fur farm stares out as an investigator documents the fox's living conditions. Poland.

In the early morning hours, investigators at a fur farm shine lights inside cages to document the foxes and raccoon dogs held there. Poland.

A female white raccoon dog is held in the arms of an investigator who carries her from a cage at a fur farm.

An investigator wearing a biohazard suit carefully climbs over a tall fence to exit a fur farm while holding a heavy carrying crate containing a rescued raccoon dog. Poland.

Sylwia Prokopiak (left) and Bogna Wiltowska (right) interact with Buba, a female white raccoon dog rescued from a fur farm the previous night.