Seven years ago, Megan Carfino met her first farmed mink when she volunteered to drive the escaped animal from South Dakota to Montana—one segment of his journey from Ontario to a West Coast sanctuary. She fell in love. Now, she helps move rescued mink to safety.
“They just have a presence,” she says. “[They] move with grace and confidence. There’s another layer there, of intelligence and memory.”
Megan Carfino/Mustelid Madness Rescue
Mink who escape from fur farms often die on busy roads, drawn by the sound of traffic, which reminds them of the automatic feeders that delivered food to their cages, according to Carfino. In places where they can’t swim or fish, they end up malnourished and dehydrated in backyards and playgrounds, she says. They also pose a threat to wild mink populations, because they have been inbred and may carry disease.
Carfino dedicates hours every day to placing rescued mink with wildlife rehabilitators and other facilities offering the specialized care they need as semi-aquatic animals. Her network stretches across the country.
At home in Sheridan, Wyoming, Carfino cares for three rescued mink—Smaug, Lysander and Annie—at her licensed sanctuary. She advocates alongside us for a bill to ban mink farming in the U.S. And she educates the public.
Mink are super active, rambunctious and, when treated well, friendly toward individual humans, says Carfino, who has bonded with Annie. “She is incredibly charismatic, not afraid of anything...She’s just an absolute character.”
Rescued mink can’t live in the wild and can’t be kept as pets. When mink farms are finally banned, Carfino knows it will mean the end of domestic mink. That’s OK, she says. As long as these animals she calls “magical” no longer have to suffer in cages.
Kristo Muurimaa/Oikeutta Elaimille
End cruel and deadly fur farming worldwide!
Millions of foxes, mink, raccoon dogs and chinchillas spend their entire lives trapped in tiny wire cages before being killed and skinned for so-called fashion.
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