The Mink Facility Disease Prevention Act (Illinois)
H.B. 2627
This bill would require monitoring and surveillance for zoonotic diseases on mink farms in Illinois.
Status
The Animal Legal Defense Fund supports this bill.
Sponsors: Representative Joyce Mason (D-61)
Introduction Date: February 4, 2025
The Mink Facility Disease Prevention Act (HB 2627) would require monitoring, testing, and surveillance for zoonotic diseases on mink farms in Illinois to protect public health and safety.
Mink farms confine animals in overcrowded, unsanitary cages, where the animals live out their lives with no access to their natural environment and no ability to engage in natural behaviors. The results of housing minks in these poor conditions include stress-induced self-mutilation, injuries, and illness.
The crowded, inhumane conditions on mink farms also create a breeding ground for zoonotic diseases, such as COVID-19 and avian flu.
Tens of thousands of minks in the United States, and millions worldwide, have been infected with COVID-19, and they can pass a mutated form to humans. Mink-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 virus has been reported in Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United States. Minks who escape from farms are capable of infecting wild animal populations, with a wild mink captured in 2020 having tested positive for a variant of COVID-19 indistinguishable from the virus found in nearby infected farmed mink populations. Mink farms in Spain and Finland have had outbreaks of avian flu, which is particularly concerning as the U.S. is currently experiencing the largest outbreak of avian flu in its history. It is indisputable that mink farming creates a public health risk.
Additionally, mink farming is a dying industry that continues to be propped up by taxpayer money. The demand for mink fur has been in decline since the 1980s, with 2020 seeing a nearly 20% reduction in production value from the previous year. Taxpayers have unwittingly been subsidizing the industry, with millions of dollars in loan forgiveness and compensation.
Why is this law important? This bill would protect animals and public health by requiring monitoring, testing, and surveillance for zoonotic diseases on mink farms in Illinois.
For more information about animal protection legislation in Illinois and opportunities to take action for animals, visit aldf.org/illinois.
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