Product Code Database
Mink are dark-coloured, semiaquatic, carnivorous in the genus Mustela and Neogale and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes , , , , , and others. There are two extant species referred to as "mink", the American mink and the European mink. The extinct sea mink was related to the American mink but was much larger.
The Mink fur has been highly prized for use in clothing. Their treatment on fur farms has been a focus of animal rights and animal welfare activism. American mink have established feral populations in Europe (including Great Britain and Denmark) and South America. In some cases this happened after the animals were released from mink farms by animal rights activists, in others, mink escaped from captivity by themselves. In the UK, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to release mink into the wild. In some countries, any live mink caught in traps must be humanely killed.
American mink are believed by some to have contributed to the decline of the less hardy European mink through competition (though not through hybridisation; European mink are more closely related to European polecat than to North American mink). Trapping is used to control or eliminate introduced American mink populations.Haworth, Jenny (3 February 2009) "National cull may exterminate UK mink". Edinburgh. The Scotsman.
Mink oil is used in some medical products and cosmetics, as well as to treat, preserve, and waterproof leather.
The sea mink ( Neogale macrodon), native to the New England area, is considered to be a close relative of the American mink. Its extinction in the late 19th century, was chiefly result of hunting for the fur trade.
A mink's rich glossy coat in its wild state is brown and looks silky. Farm-bred mink can vary from white to almost black, which is reflected in the feral mink in Britain. Their natural pelage is deep, rich brown, with or without white spots on the underparts, and consists of a slick, dense underfur overlaid with dark, glossy, almost stiff guard hairs.
Mink show the curious phenomenon of delayed implantation. Although the true gestation period is 39 days, the embryo may stop developing for a variable period, so that as long as 76 days may elapse before the litter arrives. Between 45 and 52 days is normal. There is only one litter per year. They typically have between six and 10 kits per litter. Litters as large as 16 have been recorded at fur farms.
The maximum lifespan of a mink is usually around ten years, but rarely exceeds three years in the wild.
Each territory has one or two central areas (core areas) where the mink spends most of its time. The core area is usually associated with a good food supply, such as a pool rich in fish, or a good rabbit warren. The mink may stay in its core area, which can be quite small, for several days at a time, but it also makes excursions to the ends of its territory. These excursions seem to be associated with the defense of the territory against intruders. The mink likely checks for any signs of a stranger mink and leaves droppings (scat) with its own personal scent to reinforce its territorial rights.
In February 2022, the US House of Representatives passed a ban on commercial mink farming following the global SARS-CoV-2 outbreak on mink farms, however it did not pass in the Senate so did not become law. The ban was attempted to be enacted in an effort to protect public health in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mink farms pose the risk of producing SARS-CoV-2 variants that could be transmitted to humans. The cramped living conditions along with the high volume of immunosuppressed mink inhabiting the farms creates a highly hospitable environment for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. There have been approximately 6.1 million mink infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, with three variants traced back to farms in the U.S, France, and Denmark.
The Irish Department of Agriculture stated in November 2020 saying that the Department of Health had advised, following the detection of coronavirus among animals on a Danish mink farm, that the roughly 120,000 farmed Irish mink should be culled. Mink farming was already due to be discontinued under the 2020 Programme for Government but the coronavirus risk had expedited the closure of the industry. "Ireland's mink population to be culled amid Covid-19 fears" Irish Independent, 2020-11-19.
In November 2020, Denmark, then the world's largest producer of mink fur, slaughtered its entire mink population of 15 to 17 million animals to stop the spread of Cluster 5, a mutated strain of the virus, which has been linked to the animals and resulted in the infection of 12 humans with the mutated variant. The decision was later deemed to have been illegal, although the law was later changed in support of the action. Infections within mink were also deemed ancestral to a highly mutated SARS-CoV-2 strain found in Canadian white-tailed deer which subsequently spilled back into humans.
Similar to their role of a viral incubator in the COVID-19 pandemic, in October 2022, mink at a farm in Spain became the first observed case of mammal-to-mammal transmission of Influenza A virus subtype H5N1, an avian flu which had only previously jumped to mammals upon close contact or consumption of infected birds. The infected mink in Spain exhibited multiple new mutations when compared to viral sequences obtained from infected birds, one of which helps H5N1 to better replicate within mammals.
To attempt to eliminate stereotypies in captive mink, the Canadian National Farm Animal Care Council has implemented regulations on incorporating environmental enrichments into mink cages. Enrichments are pen-related alterations or the addition of novel objects to improve the mink's physical and psychological health. Enrichments may help reduce the onset of stereotypies, but rarely decrease or eliminate them entirely. Leaving minks alone plays a large role in the prevention of stereotypies, and the animals' well-being.
|
|
