What is a Mink?

In the winter, two of my Aunts love to wear mink jackets and mink vests. I have never got what is so fashionable about wearing any type of real fur. Just thinking about the animals being killed or harmed or altered in any way for the benefit of our fashion seems horrible.

To me, even the fake fur isn't appealing. Why would anyone want to wear clothing that resembles a furry animal? We are apart of a culture that does not think hair on our bodies is acceptable, so how is this so different?

My small feists encountered a mink once, and it was not a good experience. I had no idea the degree of damage a mink could inflict upon small dogs. I learned that minks are very well equipped to defend themselves in the wild.

I have a large stream that runs into a pond near my home, and my dogs often go down there to swim. One morning, I heard them screaming. I ran outside to see them attacking something in the distance, and it was fighting back!

I rushed down there to save them, but they had already killed it. Both dogs had deep gashes on their faces, legs, and chests. One had a ripped lip that was steadily dripping blood. They both had to have stitches.

One day while fishing, I disturbed a mink in its nest. It emitted a strong odor that I knew reminded me of something.

My friend and her husband basically act as a ferret rescue. When I entered their house for the first time, I was hit by this same odor.

In addition to smelling like ferrets, they also look like them. I don’t understand why some people try to make pets out of minks. They are so squiggly and agile that they slip right out of your hands, and you can’t hold them to cuddle with them.

I once got to hold a mink that someone rescued as a baby and domesticated. I could not hold it for more than two seconds. It simply wasn’t interested in affection.

We have a family cabin on a lake up north and I have seen a mink family there in the woods. I didn't want to get too close because I thought the mother would be quite protective.

They aren't the cutest looking animals - not the kind that you think are soft and cute and that you want to pick up and cuddle.

Even so, I have never understood the fascination of wearing a mink coat and what happens in order to make a real mink hat or coat.

I knew a lady who had a long mink fur coat and thought it was the greatest thing. It was really soft and luxurious, but I kept thinking how many mink were killed just to make that one coat.

While I like coats that are soft, I don't think it is right to kill animals for this purpose. There are several other ways to wear a nice, soft coat where you don't have to do this.

I have never had any desire to own anything that is made of mink for this reason alone. They aren't very big animals and it would take quite a few of them to make just one garment.

I spotted a mink once when my family was at our winter cabin for the holidays. I was walking in the woods area behind the cabin and there is also a pond not too far away and suddenly met eye to eye with a mink!

I actually thought that it was a weasel, because I can't tell them apart just yet, they look really similar. But my grandfather said that it is not a weasel, it's a mink. Apparently one way to tell is by their color. Weasels turn white in winter but minks don't. Since the one I saw was dark brown, it's definitely an American mink. My grandfather said that once in a while, minks can have an all-white color kit. It would be so awesome to see one!

I'm not supposed to go near one though, it might attack me if it gets scared and I don't want to smell bad from their odor.

@anamur-- I hear you and I know that there a lot of people and organizations with the same stand that have been successful at grabbing attention about mink exploitation.

A combination of these efforts and the decrease of demand for mink products in general have actually caused a lot of mink manufacturers in Europe and elsewhere to go out of business. But like the article mentioned, we also need to think about the consequences of releasing these animals into the wild which is what happens when a mink farm is shut down.

Some people feel that releasing them into the wild is fine because, in nature, some animals are eaten by others and whether the released mink kill other animals for food or get eaten themselves is a part of nature. But others do not agree because releasing mink into the wild changes the balance that was there before, with the potential of some animal populations being wiped out in a particular region, while others increasing in numbers.

There are also breeding concerns because I've read that mink which are bred for fur often develop genetic disorders, such as being deaf and other physical problems. If they breed with wild mink, these disorders will be passed on to the wild population which will endanger their survival.

So this issue doesn't end with breeding farms and exploitation, there are many other factors involved and we need to think about all of them.

I think minks are beautiful animals and I'm totally against breeding and hunting mink for their fur. Some companies claim to cause no harm to the animals saying that they just shave the fur off, but I don't really find this very ethical because these products are generally fashion and beauty products.

If breeding mink was necessary to produce medicine for a disease, I wouldn't be so against it. But why do we need to breed and kill minks to wear their fur and to make shoes and purses out of them? I even read in a beauty magazine that some beauty salons now use real mink eyelash extensions! When there are so many synthetic alternatives available for these products, do we really need to use and exploit these gorgeous animals like this?