Fur farming is the practice of breeding and raising animals in captivity specifically to harvest their pelts for use in clothing, accessories, and textiles. At its peak in 2012, the global industry produced over 81 million mink and fox pelts per year. That number has collapsed to fewer than 15 million as of 2023, driven by a wave of national bans, shifting consumer attitudes, and disease outbreaks that decimated herds.
Which Animals Are Farmed for Fur
Mink are by far the most commonly farmed species, accounting for the majority of global pelt production. Foxes, particularly arctic fox and specific color phases of red fox, are the second most common. Historically, more than 45 different species have been raised on fur farms, including raccoon dogs, chinchillas, skunks, rabbits, marten, otters, and beavers. Today the industry has largely consolidated around mink and fox because they breed reliably in captivity and produce pelts with consistent quality.
How Fur Farms Operate
Fur farms raise animals from birth through a single growth cycle, typically six to eight months for mink. The animals are housed in wire-mesh cages arranged in long rows inside open-sided sheds or barns. Mink are solitary and territorial by nature, so each animal generally occupies its own cage.
The diets on these farms rely heavily on animal by-products. Mink have traditionally been fed raw mixtures of fish, horse meat, whale meat, and slaughterhouse waste. Modern operations use formulated wet feeds built around fish meal, bone meal, blood meal, and hydrolyzed feather meal, supplemented with vitamins and minerals. These diets are protein-dense, often exceeding the animals’ actual nutritional requirements, because high protein intake supports thicker, more lustrous fur. Arctic foxes are fed similarly, though nutrients from processed animal meals are less digestible for them compared to fresh feed.
Animals are killed in late autumn or early winter when their coats reach peak density. The two standard methods are gassing and electrocution. Gassing uses carbon dioxide or inert gases like nitrogen and argon to render animals unconscious before death. Carbon dioxide works by rapidly lowering pH in the body, producing an anesthetic state, though it is a strong respiratory stimulant and may cause a sensation of breathlessness. Inert gases cause unconsciousness through oxygen deprivation and appear to produce less distress. Electrocution passes current through the brain to trigger immediate loss of consciousness, followed by cardiac arrest. After slaughter, pelts are removed, stretched, dried, and sold at auction to manufacturers and designers.
Where Fur Is Produced
China is the world’s largest fur-producing country, though its output has fallen significantly alongside the global decline. Other major producers have historically included Denmark, Poland, Finland, and the United States. Denmark, once the world’s top mink producer, culled its entire farmed mink population in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic after the virus mutated in mink and spread back to humans. Poland, another major producer, passed legislation in December 2025 to phase out all fur farming over eight years.
The supply picture has changed dramatically. Global production of mink and fox pelts dropped from roughly 66 million in 2019 to under 15 million by 2023. That decline reflects not just bans but also reduced demand, lower pelt prices at auction, and the lingering impact of mass culling during the pandemic.
Disease Risks From Fur Farms
Fur farms concentrate large numbers of animals with similar genetics in tight quarters, creating ideal conditions for viruses to circulate and mutate. This became a global concern during the COVID-19 pandemic when SARS-CoV-2 spread from farmworkers to mink, mutated within mink populations, and then jumped back to humans. A 2021 study published in Science documented this human-to-mink-to-human transmission chain on farms in the Netherlands.
The risks extend well beyond COVID. Researchers have identified a MERS-like coronavirus (originally found in bats) in farmed mink from a single farm experiencing a pneumonia outbreak, representing a cross-species jump from wildlife to a farmed animal in close contact with people. Outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza have been reported in farmed European mink. Novel strains of avian flu, including H6N2 and H5N6, have been found in farmed muskrats and mink. In raccoon dogs, a canine coronavirus was detected at a 37 percent positivity rate across farms in eight cities, and closely related strains of that virus have been identified in human infections in Haiti and Malaysia. More than 80 human infections with H5N6 have been reported worldwide, with nearly 90 percent of those patients having a history of direct animal contact.
Countries That Have Banned Fur Farming
More than 20 countries have now banned, phased out, or effectively eliminated fur farming. The United Kingdom was first, enacting a nationwide ban in 2000. Full national bans followed in Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovakia, and North Macedonia.
Several other countries ended the practice through structured phase-outs or compensation programs rather than outright prohibition. Norway completed a legislated phase-out. France closed its last fur farms in 2024. Italy and Ireland both ended production through managed transitions. Hungary banned fur farming through animal welfare legislation. Germany took a different route, imposing welfare regulations so strict that fur farming became economically impossible without formally outlawing it. Estonia and Lithuania have heavily restricted the industry through repeated legislative measures, placing it in steep decline.
Poland’s 2025 legislation is particularly significant because the country was one of Europe’s largest remaining producers. Under the new law, no new fur farms may open, existing operations must close within eight years, and farmers receive phased compensation and transition support.
The Shifting Market
The global fur products market was valued at approximately $3.27 billion in 2024. While that figure is projected to grow modestly through 2033, it represents a fraction of the industry’s former scale. Multiple forces are compressing demand simultaneously: national bans shrink the supply side, major fashion houses and retailers have dropped fur from their collections, and younger consumers increasingly favor alternatives.
The industry’s decline has accelerated faster than most analysts predicted a decade ago. What was once a supply chain spanning dozens of countries and tens of millions of animals per year has contracted into a much smaller operation concentrated in a handful of nations, primarily China and Finland. For the countries that have exited, the transition has generally involved compensation funds for farmers, retraining programs, and timelines ranging from immediate closure to phase-outs lasting up to a decade.