Do you know how many minks it takes to make one coat? 70. That is 70 deaths for one item of luxurious clothing. The killing itself for vanity and fashion is immoral; the volume of animals killed - horrifying. Notwithstanding basic EU regulations, the living conditions in the farms are still unacceptable. The conditions in fur farms are intolerable because of the unnatural habitat for the animals. In Italian mink farms they imprison as many as 200,000 minks. The minks live a caged life like battery hens, deprived of any contact with the outdoors as rain would damage their coats. The wire-cages are piled up, row upon row, and there can be up to five individuals in one single cage. As naturally solitary animals, these minks live in permanent distress.
When animals fail to cope with their environment, they fall ill or become injured due to aggressive behaviour in the cages. Investigations by the animal rights group Essere Animali found that minks in Italian farms had wounds to the head, legs, arms and tail due to aggressive behaviour towards each other in the tiny cages or that were self-inflicted due to the traumatic conditions.
Unlike these poor farmed creatures, free range animals are ill and injured less often because they are able to express their natural behaviour.