Clothing/Cosmetics and Animal Abuse Articles from All-Creatures.org



Letter from the Mink Farms

From AnimaNaturalis
March 2023

It is not just seeing the wards full of animals, hearing them moan, the unbearable smell and loaded with ammonia, the endless continuity of animal suffering. I wish I had the ability to lose myself in the volume of animals and stop seeing them as individuals, but I can't. Each look is unique and so is the desperation.

From Anonymous
undercover activist
Undercover Investigation Team
AnimaNaturalis Internacional

Spanish Mink farm

I belong to the AnimaNaturalis undercover investigation team and I am dedicated to exposing what animal exploiters try to hide. They ask me to explain to you in a minute what I have seen while we were doing our last report on mink farms in Spain.

For me the world stopped and every second became an eternity. It's hard for me to measure the time when the images we obtained stuck in my brain with such intensity. I still have nightmares some nights, but that's nothing compared to the suffering I witnessed.

Spanish Mink farm

I entered several mink farms in Galicia and some in Castilla y León. I visited enough facilities to realize that these were not irregularities, but that I was witnessing the "normal" and everyday of this industry.

Spanish Mink farm

The animals stretched their legs out of the wire cages, as if wanting to reach us. As a begging gesture. We saw them spinning around on themselves, making repetitive, stereotyped gestures, swaying from one side to the other... these are clear signs of what ethologists call zoochosis, similar to psychosis in humans. A state of dementia product of confinement, absence of stimuli and overcrowding.

Spanish Mink farm

It's not just witnessing the terrible conditions in those tiny cages, and the feces piling up on the floor. It is not just seeing the wards full of animals, hearing them moan, the unbearable smell and loaded with ammonia, the endless continuity of animal suffering. I wish I had the ability to lose myself in the volume of animals and stop seeing them as individuals, but I can't. Each look is unique and so is his desperation.

I remember a young mink in one of the first cages we could see. Seeing me, he made a quick gesture to get up, but he stared at me for a while… as if he needed a few seconds to assess whether or not I was a danger. It's the same thing my cat does when he hears me coming home. I approached and stretched out my fingers, to touch his paw. He held her tight to me, clearly seeing her relax. I remember this and my throat closes up. That life surely no longer exists. He was probably gassed along with everyone else.

Spanish Mink farm

I don't want that look and that of so many others to be erased from my memory, because witnessing the cruelty of farms is essential to press for changes that save the lives of thousands of animals in the future. That is why I take advantage of the darkness of the night to bring these images to light. That is why I ask for your help to continue the work we do at AnimaNaturalis. Help me save them. 


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