Denmark will not extend a ban on mink breeding when the existing ban expires at the end of 2022, the country’s agriculture ministry said on Friday. The government introduced the ‘mink breeding for fur ban’ after it ordered to kill about 17 million mink in 2020 over fears of the animals spreading a coronavirus variant.
Animal welfare organizations embraced the ban in 2020 but added that the industry should be banned “solely considering the animals’ welfare.”
“For the government, it has only been about public health when it comes to the question of mink breeding in Denmark,” Agriculture Minister Rasmus Prehn said in a statement.
The news of lifting the mink breeding ban comes a month after the Copenhagen Fashion Week, which takes place in the capital of Denmark, announced it would be fur-free for the first time in its history. Over the past year, Saint Laurent, Dolce&Gabbanna, Gucci, Balenciaga, Moncler and other major fashion brands have announced they would stop selling fur.
Most fur used for fashion comes from farms in China and Europe, where mink, foxes, chinchillas, racoon dogs, and other animals are kept in tiny cages and killed before they’re one year old.
“Keeping wild animals trapped in small cages only to be used for unnecessary luxury products like fur is appalling,” Esben Sloth, head of Campaigns at World Animal Protection Denmark, said.
