The Icelandic government is under pressure to ban fur farming after the first ever fur farm undercover investigation in the country reveals shocking levels of animal suffering including animals with large wounds or infections, dead animals left in cages, mink covered in blood and confined in small, filthy wire cages.
Investigators filmed at three fur farms in November 2025, just one month before the farms closed down, reportedly due to financial collapse. Investigators handed their shocking evidence to Humane World for Animals (formerly called Humane Society International) as the world’s leading organization campaigning to end the global fur trade. The footage was aired as part of an in-depth exposé on award-winning Icelandic investigative news program, Kveikur, which airs on the country's leading public-service broadcaster.
Images from the three farms investigated ―Nedri Dalur, Tun i Floa and Holt i Floa in the south of Iceland―revealed thousands of mink being kept in dark sheds of small, filthy cages, mink with blood oozing from their nostrils, with one seen repeatedly sneezing. Other mink showed signs of infected eyes and had open or old wounds on their bodies and faces. Investigators also documented discarded bodies of dead mink. Mink at one farm were filmed displaying stereotypical behavior indicative of mental breakdown. One of the farms, Holt i Floa, was owned by Björn Hardarson, chairman of the fur farmers' department at the Icelandic Farmers' Association.
Although the three fur farms investigated have since closed down, reports obtained in February 2026 through a Freedom of Information request to Iceland’s veterinary authority suggest that conditions for animals at Iceland’s last remaining operating fur farm could be just as bad. Over the last 10 years, multiple inspections at Dalsbú fur farm in Mosfellsdalur by the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority known as MAST, report a catalogue of animal welfare concerns that may constitute breaches of the Animal Welfare Act such as animals with wounds, injuries, an abscess and signs of cannibalism.
Campaigners at Humane World for Animals and their Icelandic partners Samtök um dýravelferð á Íslandi (Animal Welfare Iceland) have written to Minister of Industries, Hanna Katrín Friðriksson, urging her to ban fur farming by disqualifying the regulation that permits the keeping of mink for fur production.
Shely Bryan, Fur Free program director at Humane World for Animals, says: “Although now closed, the three fur farms investigated reveal the horrors that thousands of animals have been enduring in Iceland for the dying fur industry. Dead, sick and injured mink crammed together in filthy, tiny cages, surrounded by feces, blood and rotting food. This is the grim reality behind the fur trade’s glossy façade. Most Icelanders will be shocked to know that, just a 30-minute drive from Reykjavik Iceland’s last remaining fur farm is still operating despite a catalogue of animal welfare issues raised by authorities. Twenty-four countries across Europe have already banned fur farming, and it’s time for Iceland to join them on the right side of history. This needless suffering of animals for frivolous fur fashion must end.”
The Dalsbú fur farm houses many thousands of mink, kept in factory farm style caging. A MAST report from August 2023 shows that multiple mink were found with bite wounds including many who veterinarians assessed should have been euthanized. Others were found with old wounds, a swollen jaw, an abscess, and evidence of cannibalism. Concerns were also raised about the barren cages lacking any environmental enrichment or sufficient insulation against the elements, as well as “repeated escapes” of mink in recent years. In 2024 Dalsbú was downgraded to a Category C facility under MAST’s classification system, indicative of serious deficiencies in the establishment’s compliance with requirements concerning animal welfare.
Unbelievably, the Icelandic Fur Farmers’ association website promotes links to Welfur and Saga Furs, both part of the fur trade’s own bogus animal welfare scheme that has been discredited by veterinarians. And export data shows almost all raw fur pelts are exported from Iceland to Finland, home of Saga Furs’ auction house, which boasts it only sells pelts from certified Welfur/Furmark farms. In correspondence with MAST in 2025, the Dalsbú farmer tells the veterinary authority that the reports from Welfur "give us a good rating".
Dr. Rósa Líf Darradóttir, chairwoman at Animal Welfare Iceland, said: “Iceland’s Animal Welfare Act requires animals to be protected from fear, suffering, pain, injury, disease and that they be able to express their natural behaviors. Fur farming, by its very nature, is fundamentally incompatible with these statutory objectives. The documented conditions on the three fur farms were deeply disturbing and it is heartbreaking that fur farming is still taking place in my beautiful country. It´s clear from MAST reports that serious animal welfare concerns have repeatedly been raised at the last remaining fur farm. Iceland’s constitution says that citizens are free to pursue the occupation of their choice, but that freedom may be restricted if it’s in the public interest. Upholding our Animal Welfare Act and minimizing zoonotic and biosecurity risks is clearly in the public interest so we urge the government to pass a legislation to ban fur farming here forever.”
Iceland’s fur farming industry has been in steep decline for years, mirroring the decline of the fur trade globally due to rapidly decreasing consumer and designer demand for fur. There were 43 fur farms operational in Iceland in 2013, reduced to just six in 2024 and now one in 2026. Fur industry data shows a roughly 67% decrease in the number of animals bred and killed for fur in Iceland from 200,000 mink in 2015 to 65,000 mink in 2024; following recent farm closures this number will likely be significantly smaller in 2026. Consumer demand for fur is so low that multiple reports show mink pelts from Iceland are being sold at a loss, below production costs. Astonishingly, public funds continue to be spent to prop up this dying industry, including 80million Icelandic króna in 2020.
Rósa Líf Darradóttir says: "The fur industry is horrendously cruel, environmentally damaging and a public health risk. People increasingly recognize that reality and public funds should not be used to delay its inevitable end."
Humane World for Animals works across the globe to end the fur trade. With a focus on the UK, Europe, North America and China, our work includes government, industry and corporate campaigns, collaborations with designers and fashion brands, undercover investigations and education campaigns, and has led to a steadily decreasing number of animals affected by this cruel trade.
Fur facts
- In July 2025 scientific experts from the European Food Safety Authority concluded that conditions on fur farms across Europe fail to meet basic animal welfare needs for mink as well as for foxes, raccoon dogs and chinchillas.Fur farming poses a zoonotic disease risk. Mink on almost 500 fur farms across 13 countries in Europe and North America have been found to be infected with COVID-19, with millions of animals killed on public health grounds. Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A (H5N1) has also been found on 72 fur farms in Europe to date. Around 500,000 mink, arctic fox, red fox, raccoon dogs and sable were killed on public health grounds.
- Research shows that the carbon footprint of 1kg of mink fur (309.91 kg CO2-eq) is 31 times higher than cotton, 26 times higher than acrylic, and 25 times higher than polyester. Compared to other environmentally harmful forms of animal agriculture, the farming of carnivorous animals is worse. The production of 1 kilogram of mink fur releases approximately seven times higher emissions than producing 1 kilogram of beef.
- Most leading designers have fur-free policies including Max Mara, Saint Laurent, Gucci, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Valentino, Prada, Armani, Versace, Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo, DKNY, Burberry and Chanel. As fur becomes increasingly unmarketable and ethically indefensible, fashion houses are choosing to innovate with sustainable, cruelty-free alternatives.
Download photos and video from the investigation HERE.
TAKE ACTION: Humane World for Animals and Animal Welfare Iceland are urging members of the public to express their support for an Icelandic fur farming ban by signing their online action HERE.
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