Footage shows mink being gassed on fur farm

2023-06-02

EXCLUSIVE – Inside the ‘killing box’: Footage shows mink being gassed on fur farm where the animals are punched and thrown into lethal container to spasm and die on top of one another – as campaigners call for ban

Horrifying footage has exposed the grim reality of mink fur farms in Lithuania
Stressed animals are kept in cages before being gassed to death in chambers
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

Horrifying footage has shown the grim reality of mink farms in Lithuania, with the defenceless animals being beaten and thrown into chambers where they are gassed to death.

Animal rights activists captured grim footage from inside the ‘killing box’ where the mink can be seen writhing in agony and desperately trying to escape the dark depths of the chamber.

But the mink are unable to escape and the video shows them writhing around in pain before going into spasm and dying on top of each other at a farm in Lithuania.

Further footage shows farm workers beating the mink before pulling them from their small cages and throwing them into the lethal gas chambers.

Some of the desperate animals can be seen trying to cling on to their cages before they are dumped into the box where they are gassed to death. Their corpses are then skinned with the fur sold into the fashion industry.

The footage, captured over four years across eight farms in Lithuania, was published ahead of a vote in the Lithuanian Parliament on whether to ban fur farming on June 6.

Animal rights activists captured grim footage from inside the ‘killing box’ where the mink can be seen writhing in agony and desperately trying to escape the dark depths of the chamber. But the mink are unable to escape and they die on top each other

In the video, the investigators document the grim conditions the mink are kept in at the farms – confined to tiny wire cages where they pace due to stress

The harrowing footage was captured by the animal protection group Tušti Narvai and shared exclusively to MailOnline by Humane Society International.

Claire Bass, senior director of campaigns and public affairs at Humane Society International, told MailOnline: ‘I have been to fur farms myself and seen the suffering first hand, but to view so many hours of footage spanning several years and showing mink being systematically abused for fur fashion, is horrendous.’

‘These incidents can’t be dismissed as a one-off. This level of cruelty is the everyday reality for animals suffering on fur farms and the only way to stop it is to ban fur farms once and for all.

‘I urge politicians in Lithuania to vote for a ban on fur farming as soon as possible.’

Investigators filmed at eight fur farms in Lithuania in 2019, 2022 and 2023, with activists saying it showed that incidents of animal cruelty are ‘not isolated but a repeated, routine part of the industry’.

The fur farms are located in the districts of Mažeikiai, Prienai, Panevėžys, Ukmergė, Kelmė, Šiauliai and Kaunas.

In the video, the investigators document the grim conditions the mink are kept in at the farms – confined to tiny wire cages where they pace due to stress.

Farm workers can be seen dragging some of the mink from their small cages and hurling them into gas chambers.

Video shows the squealing mink trying to escape the dark gas chambers, but one by one, they spasm and die on top of each other.

Further footage shows farm workers beating the mink before pulling them from their small cages and throwing them into the lethal gas chambers

Farm workers are seen throwing the mink into the gas chamber at a farm in Lithuania

Their dead bodies can be seen laid out on the top of the wire cages they had been confined to for months before they are skinned so that their fur can be used in the fashion industry.

Gabrielė Vaitkevičiūtė, executive director of Tušti Narvai, said: ‘Such treatment of animals is unfathomable and unforgivable. Fur farmers call this process ‘putting animals to sleep’. Does it sound like making someone sleep? What most people can’t even look at because of how horrible it is, is a standard practice on fur farms.’

Vaitkevičiūtė said the footage of mink being gassed to death inside the gas chamber came from 2019 but the activists had at the time decided it was too distressing but with the Lithuanian parliament set to vote on a new bill banning mink fur farms next month, they decided to release it now.

‘We decided not to release the gas chamber footage when we originally filmed it because we thought it was too distressing for people to see,’ Vaitkevičiūtė said. ‘But people and politicians need to see the true horror now.

‘On all of the videos, the killing season looks the same. Such activities should be banned altogether. It is never justified to torture animals for the sake of fashion.’

Lithuanian lawmakers will next month vote on a government proposal aimed at banning fur farms from 2027 following a long campaign by animal rights groups.

There are approximately 44 mink fur farms in Lithuania with around 1 million animals.

Further footage shows farm workers beating the mink before pulling them from their small cages and throwing them into the lethal gas chambers

The mink farming industry sees most male animals being gassed and skinned following the breeding process which takes place in the spring.

Females generally give birth between April and May, with their young taken away as soon as they are weaned – around six to eight weeks later.

The young are then allowed to grow for eight months until the killing season, which generally takes place in November and December.

Most animals on the farms will generally be killed during this period, including any mink mothers that farmers do not plan to keep for breeding the next year.

Fur farming has been banned across the UK since 2003, and has been banned in 19 European countries including Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

In 2020, the government in Hungary declared a ban on the farming of animals for fur, including mink and foxes.

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