Minimum enclosure or cage space, plus water-pool area, per adult mink, by standard
Where a statute specifies both a land enclosure and a separate water pool, the bar shows the two minima side by side (green = land/floor area, blue = open water). Captive-animal and zoo standards give an adult mink roughly 20 to 50 times the floor area of the current EU fur-farm cage, and all require open water. The proposed reform cages (Finland, Ecorys) stay close to the current legal cage, with no water; only Germany's fur-farming statute, the one EU fur law that mandates open water, rises well above them. Figures are per mink at each standard's stated enclosure capacity (see Notes).
Segment
Land / floor area (m² per mink)
Open water / pool (m² per mink)
Green shade = required height
0.45 m2.5 m
Blue shade = water depth
0.2 m0.5 m
Not specified
height or depth not given in source
∗ possibly consistent with the direction EFSA points to (much more space plus open water). EFSA assessed none of these standards; the mark is direction-of-travel only, matching the report's own EFSA-compliance table (fur-farm cage, Finland and Ecorys standards do not provide open water).
“The majority of the welfare consequences (WCs) listed cannot be prevented or substantially mitigated within the current husbandry systems.”
“… substantial mitigation would require enclosures that provide sufficient three-dimensional space to incorporate structures and resources that enhance environmental complexity, to allow the quantitative and qualitative expression of fundamental behaviours (e.g. sustained locomotory activity, exploration, foraging and vigilance).”
For mink specifically, EFSA finds that a lack of open water may be relevant to four of the five most relevant welfare consequences.
EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Animal Welfare (2025). Welfare of American mink, red and Arctic foxes, raccoon dog and chinchilla kept for fur production (Scientific Opinion 9519). EFSA Journal, 23(7).
Notes
AZA zoo standard. 31.2 m² is the total exhibit floor space recommended for 1 to 2 American mink (head-body-length formula; AZA SCTAG, 2010, Table 8), halved here to a per-mink figure and split 4:1 land-to-water. The 4:1 ratio and the ≥0.37 m minimum water depth are stated for aquatic-oriented mustelids including mink. The manual gives no mink enclosure height (green fill shown neutral). United States standard, off-jurisdiction reference.
Switzerland. Enclosure 15 m² for up to 2 animals; pool 1 m² at ≥0.2 m depth (TSchV Anhang 2, Tab. 1 row 81 and Tab. 3 row 1), halved to per-mink. "Nerz (Wildform)" is wild-form mink; the species is not disambiguated. The ordinance specifies enclosure area but no height (Volumen columns marked "–"; green fill shown neutral). Non-EU/EEA reference.
Germany, zoo/keeping guidance (BMEL). 8 m² per animal; water basin 20 to 25% of the floor area (mid-point 22.5% shown); interior height 2.5 m. The Gutachten does not specify a basin depth (blue fill shown neutral). EU standard, captive/zoo keeping, not a fur-farm law.
Austria. 20 m² per adult pair (10 m² per mink); 50% of the area as water surface at ≥0.5 m depth; enclosure height 2.5 m. Binding captive-wildlife ordinance; fur farming is separately banned in Austria (2005). EU standard.
Germany, fur-farming statute. Floor ≥1 m² per adult but ≥3 m² per enclosure, plus a swimming basin (additive) of ≥1 m² surface and ≥30 cm depth; interior height ≥1 m. At the two-animal capacity used for the other enclosure standards this is 1.5 m² land and 0.5 m² water per mink; for a singly-housed mink the minimum is the 3 m² enclosure floor plus the 1 m² basin, so 4 m² in total. The only binding EU open-water requirement for farmed mink. This is a fur-farming law, not a zoo/captive standard. EU standard.
Ecorys / EC proposed (Scenarios 4 and 5). Two-level cage, 4,380 cm² per animal (base 90×30×45 cm plus upper 56×30×45 cm), height 45 cm per level; no open water. A single-level alternative of 5,400 cm² is not shown.
Finland, draft fur decree. 3,600 cm² per adult; height ≥45 cm; no water (the explanatory memorandum declines swimming water, citing disease risk).
EU legal minimum / WelFur. 2,550 cm² per adult (Council of Europe 1999 baseline; Finnish decree 1084/2011), cage height 45 cm; no water. WelFur's best score equals the legal cage and adds only scored, substitutable enrichment.
Occupancy basis. The fur-farm, Ecorys and German-guidance figures are stated per animal. The AZA, Swiss, Austrian and German-statute enclosure minima are stated per enclosure or per pair; they are shown here per mink at the standard's stated capacity (two animals), a conservative reading. A singly-housed mink, the usual case outside the mating season, would have up to about twice the land and water shown for those four rows (for the German statute, the 3 m² enclosure floor plus the 1 m² basin, so 4 m²). The comparison to the fur cage is therefore a lower bound.
Values are source-native minima converted to a per-adult-mink basis. Green shade encodes required height, blue shade water depth; a hatched fill marks a dimension the source does not specify. Bar length is true to area on a single linear scale, so the fur-farm and proposed cages appear as thin slivers: that gap is the finding, not a rendering artefact.
Show data table
Standard
Land m²
Water m²
Total m²
Height m
Depth m
EFSA∗
Per adult mink. "n/s" = not specified in the source.
Sources
AZA Small Carnivore Taxon Advisory Group. (2010). Mustelid (Mustelidae) care manual. Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Copy on file. https://www.aza.org/animal-care-manuals
Bundesrepublik Deutschland. (2017a). Anforderungen an die Haltung von Pelztieren [Anlage to the Tiererzeugnisse-Handels-Verbotsgesetz (TierErzHaVerbG); German-English extract, mink requirements]. Bundesministerium der Justiz. https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/khfeverbg/anlage.html
Council of Europe, Standing Committee of the European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes. (1999). Recommendation concerning fur animals (adopted 22 June 1999, under ETS No. 087). Copy on file: none. https://rm.coe.int/168007a4a4
Ecorys. (2025). Study supporting the European Commission's assessment to follow up on the European Citizens' Initiative "Fur Free Europe": Survey of civil society organisations [Survey questionnaire]. European Commission. Copy on file; survey background at https://food.ec.europa.eu/animals/animal-welfare/eci/eci-fur-free-europe_en
EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Animal Welfare (AHAW). (2025). Welfare of American mink, red and Arctic foxes, raccoon dog and chinchilla kept for fur production. EFSA Journal, 23(7), Article e9519. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9519
Finnish Government (Valtioneuvosto). (2011). Valtioneuvoston asetus turkiseläinten suojelusta 1084/2011 [Government decree on the protection of fur animals]. Finlex. https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/alkup/2011/20111084
Compiled for the fur-standards study (EU fur phase-out and transition costs). Standards are reference comparators for the enclosure-space ladder; they are not cost figures. Values verified against primary sources; the EU Zoos Directive 1999/22/EC sets a framework only and specifies no enclosure dimensions.