The Fur Trade

The Fur Trade

The fur trade refers to fur factory farms, the trapping of wild animals for their fur, and the sale of these fur products. Fur factory farms, which supply about 85% of the fur trade, confine hundreds of millions of wild, fur-bearing animals in small, barren, wire cages for their entire lives. The size of a fox’s fur farm cage, for example, is roughly 1m x 70cm. Other animals that suffer on fur farms include rabbits, raccoon dogs, and mink. The remaining 15% of the fur trade comes from cruel, indiscriminate trapping. Roughly 100 million animals are killed every year for their fur, to be used in, for example, coats, shoes, and accessories.

Learn more about our state legislation to prohibit the sale of new fur products from animals raised in factory farms (does not apply to second-hand fur or fur used for religious purposes).

Mink and foxes are the primary animals used on fur farms. The exact number of fox farms in the United States is unknown because the USDA doesn’t track them, but there are likely over 50 fox fur farms in the country. The USDA does track mink fur farms; as of 2022 there were 110. These mink farms produce 2 million pelts annually and are valued at around 39 million dollars.

Globally, the largest producers of fur are the United States, Canada, the European Union, and China. In 2018, Canada farmed 1.8 million animals (1.76 million mink and 2,360 foxes); China farmed 50.5 million animals (20.7 million mink, 17.3 million foxes, and 12.3 million raccoon dogs); the European Union farmed 37.8 million animals (34.7 million mink, 2.7 million foxes, 166,000 raccoon dogs, and 227,000 chinchilla); and the United States farmed 3.1 million mink. (The USDA does not regulate fox fur farms.)

Animal suffering

It is estimated that fur farms supply about 85% of the fur trade, with trapping making up the remaining 15%. Animals are commonly trapped for days, without food, water or shelter, or any way to protect themselves from predators. In struggling to free themselves, animals may break bones or teeth, or even try to chew off their own limbs. When trappers finally arrive to check their traps, some may stomp or beat the animals to death, rather than a more merciful bullet to the head. Traps are also problematic because they are indiscriminate. Many trapping incidents involve non-target animals, including endangered species or even companion animals. The problem of non-target animals being caught is widespread: see these examples of indiscriminate trapping accidents in Massachusetts. (Content warning: graphic images.)

Some fur farms claim to be “high welfare,” but investigations have proven otherwise. For example, some farms in Finland, supposedly with high welfare standards, raise oversized “monster foxes” (bred to be unnaturally big so that they have more fur, at the expense of the animal’s welfare). The manner in which animals on fur farms are killed is also cruel. In order to help preserve the pelt for human consumption, animals are frequently electrocuted or even, as one investigation revealed, skinned alive.

Confining these naturally active and curious animals in such conditions also has severe physical and mental health effects. Deprived of the ability to engage in natural behaviors such as digging, roaming large territories, and, for semi-aquatic mink, swimming and diving, fur-farmed animals are known to display stereotypical behaviors, an indicator of mental distress, wherein they repeatedly pace and circle their cages. Fur farm conditions can also lead animals to self-mutilate and housing in unnatural social groupings can lead to fighting between cage mates. Even cannibalism can occur due to these conditions on fur farms.

Fur farming and zoonotic diseases

As with the conditions in which animals are raised for food on factory farms, fur farming creates conditions ripe for the emergence of new zoonotic diseases. Highly stressed animals are kept in extremely close quarters, providing ample opportunities for new viruses to evolve in animals with weakened immune systems, and to then jump to people in a form that can infect and sicken humans. Further, once a pathogen has spilled over from nonhuman animals to humans, it can then subsequently be passed back to animals, a process called spillback. Spillback is particularly dangerous, as it gives the pathogen even more time to evolve into a more dangerous and/or more transmissible disease. Dr. Gail Hansen of the Humane Veterinary Medical Alliance states, “we have the very real possibility that farmed mink could be a persistent source for the virus and continued infection in people, posing a significant public health threat.”

The coronavirus has in fact been documented on numerous mink farms in several countries, including 11 mink farms in the United States, 166 mink farms in Denmark, 68 in the Netherlands, one in Spain, one in Sweden, and an unknown number in Italy.  In response to concerns that a mutation in mink of the novel coronavirus could possibly interfere with the effectiveness of a vaccine for humans, Denmark took drastic action and ordered all farmed mink killed, roughly 15 million animals.

Laws and policies helping to end the fur trade

Many countries, states/provinces, and municipalities have passed bans or limitations on fur farming or the retail sale of fur. For example:

• Fur farming has been banned in Austria, the United Kingdom, Norway, Ireland, Lithuania, and more. 
• The sale of fur has been banned in Israel, California, Michigan, Florida, and several cities in Massachusetts (Wellesley, Weston, Brookline, Plymouth, Cambridge, Lexington, Attleboro, and Arlington).
• In 2021, the first state bill was filed on this issue in the Massachusetts legislature. In January 2025, An Act prohibiting the sale of newly farmed fur products was filed. Read more about similar legislation filed in the current legislative session.
• In 2010, Congress passed the Truth in Fur Labeling Act, which requires all animal fur to be labeled as such, though there are concerns that this law is not being enforced. Learn tips on how to differentiate real and faux fur.
• New York state has banned the electrocution of fur-farmed animals.
• Learn about more anti-fur trade legislation and regulations around the world.

Private sector fur bans

More than 300 brands and retailers, including Armani, Bloomingdale’s, Burberry, Chanel, Coach, Gucci, H&M, Macy’s, Michael Kors, The North Face, Prada, and Versace, have adopted fur-free policies. View a full list of fur-free retailers and follow the tips in this humane shopping guide.

The fur industry and the environment

Much environmental damage is wrought by fur farming. A dangerous source of pollution, excrement from factory farmed animals pollutes waterways and soil, and harmful chemicals used in tanning and dying processes are released into the environment as well. Fur farms, as demonstrated in a Humane World for Animals investigation from December 2023, also have substantial carbon footprints. In contrast, many synthetic animal materials offer a more sustainable choice. For example, synthetic down is lighter, warmer, and biodegradable, and faux-fur is now produced sustainably from a corn industry by-product.

Learn more:

• Fur-Free Massachusetts is a nonprofit whose mission is banning the sale of new fur in Massachusetts, working at both the local and state level.
• The Fur Free Alliance is an international coalition working collaboratively to end fur farming and fur trapping.
• Statistics and background information: Fur and The Fur Trade, Humane World for Animals
• Wildlife Trapping in Massachusetts, MSPCA
• Environment and Health, Fur Free Alliance
• Undercover investigations conducted by Humane World for Animals. (Content warning: graphic footage.)
• Did you know you can donate owned fur? To find a place to donate, check with area wildlife rehabilitators to see if they are in need of furs, see this list of nationwide wildlife rehabilitators that accept furs, and also check out Buffalo Exchange, a store with locations in Somerville and Brookline that accepts fur through its Coats for Cubs program.