Germany 2019 – Closure of last mink farm
Trade & Market Change
In Effect
April 5, 2019
Summary
In early 2019, Germany’s last operating mink fur farm, located in Rahden in the district of Minden-Lübbecke, North Rhine-Westphalia, ceased operations. Eurogroup for Animals reported on 5 April 2019 that the farm’s sheds “now stand empty,” with PETA confirming the closure. The local Veterinary Office (Veterinäramt) is described in secondary sources as having closed the farm and arranged removal of the mink. The closure followed the 2017 federal amendment to the Tiererzeugnisse-Handelsverbotsgesetz (TierErzHaVerbG), which introduced stricter housing and management standards for fur-bearing animals under a five-year transition framework — documented in a separate Development record. With the Rahden farm’s closure, no active fur farms remained in Germany. Subsequent NGO and analyst commentary through 2025 consistently describes Germany as having no verified active fur farms.
Background Context
The 2017 federal amendment to the TierErzHaVerbG conditioned continued fur farming on compliance with substantially stricter housing standards, including larger enclosures and enhanced enrichment requirements for mink, under a transitional framework running to 2022. NGO assessments characterised these standards as economically unviable for existing operators. Most German fur farms closed within the transition period before or shortly after the 2017 legislation; by 2018–2019 the Rahden farm was identified as the last remaining fur farming operation in Germany. PETA Germany and other organisations had conducted campaigns, petitions, and public advocacy against fur farming in Germany for more than two decades preceding the 2017 legislation. Germany’s regulatory approach — imposing conditions that rendered fur farming economically unviable rather than enacting an explicit statutory prohibition — reflects a pattern also adopted in Switzerland and contrasted with countries that imposed categorical bans.
System Impact
Direction
Reduces Exploitation
Type
Changes Scale
Significance
High
The Rahden mink farm ceased breeding and keeping mink for fur in early 2019; by 5 April 2019, Eurogroup for Animals confirmed the farm buildings were empty of animals. The local Veterinary Office is described in secondary sources as having closed the farm and arranged removal of the mink. Following this closure, NGO monitoring and subsequent analyst commentary identify no verified active fur farms in Germany. The 2017 TierErzHaVerbG regulatory framework — requiring individual permits contingent on meeting strict housing and management standards — remains in force; any future fur farming enterprise in Germany would be required to comply with the standards that rendered existing operations economically unviable. Germany is described by NGO and analyst sources as “fur-free in practice” while lacking a single explicit permanent statutory prohibition on all future fur farming.
Anticipated Effects
If no new fur farms are established under the 2017 regulatory framework, Germany’s domestic mink fur production would remain at zero, with any residual demand for mink fur met through imports or alternative materials.
If the TierErzHaVerbG standards are maintained without relaxation, the conditions that made fur farming economically unviable for the Rahden operator would continue to apply to any prospective operator, making re-establishment unlikely absent fundamental changes to farm economics or regulatory requirements.
Whether the elimination of Germany’s domestic fur production has reduced global mink exploitation in aggregate, or whether demand has been met by increased production in other countries, is not established in sources consulted.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Reduces Exploitation (impact direction) because the Rahden closure removed Germany’s last domestic mink fur production facility, with no verified active fur farms documented in Germany from that point through 2025 in sources consulted.
Assigned Changes Scale (impact type) because the primary mechanism is the operational cessation of a production facility directly eliminating the remaining domestic mink population from the fur farming system — the legal basis change underpinning this event is already documented in the 2017 TierErzHaVerbG amendment record.
Assigned High significance because the closure completes the elimination of the entire German domestic fur farming segment: no domestic mink fur production has been documented since April 2019, and the regulatory framework prevents economically viable re-establishment under current conditions.
The scale change is structural within its scope: Germany’s domestic mink fur farming system was eliminated in 2019 and has not resumed as of sources consulted through 2025.
Key Actors
The local Veterinary Office (Veterinäramt) for the Minden-Lübbecke district is described in secondary sources as the enforcement authority that closed the Rahden farm and arranged removal of the mink. The operator of the Rahden mink farm — not named in sources consulted — ceased operations ahead of or at the regulatory transition deadline. PETA Germany confirmed the closure and described the farm’s prior conditions; Eurogroup for Animals published the first dated report of the completed closure on 5 April 2019. The 2017 TierErzHaVerbG amendment, adopted by the Deutscher Bundestag and Bundesrat, is the legal instrument underlying the closure — documented in the Germany 2017 TierErzHaVerbG amendment record.
Editorial Correction Notice
Development date: Set to 5 April 2019 — the date of the Eurogroup for Animals report confirming the Rahden farm “now stands empty.” The exact calendar date on which mink were removed and operations ceased is not documented in available sources. The Eurogroup for Animals article (5 April 2019) is the earliest confirmed dated documentation of the completed closure. A Care2 article from August 2019 refers to learning “this week” of the closure, which is inconsistent with the April 2019 Eurogroup report; the Eurogroup date is treated as the more authoritative reference. Official records from Veterinäramt Minden-Lübbecke or the North Rhine-Westphalia state authority would provide the precise closure date.
Affected practices: No Practices CPT records are assigned because the practices of mink fur farming (Intensive Confinement, Selective Breeding, Slaughter, etc.) ceased at this facility rather than being directly regulated by this development. Background practices of the eliminated system are documented in the Germany 2017 TierErzHaVerbG amendment record, which covers the legal instrument through which conditions were imposed.
Scale & Prevalence: The number of mink held at the Rahden farm at the time of closure is not quantified in available sources. Precise animal numbers would require Veterinäramt records or state agricultural statistics for the Minden-Lübbecke district.
Primary sources: This record is documented through NGO and media-type secondary sources (Eurogroup for Animals, PETA, LiveKindly, Care2). No direct citation to the specific Veterinary Office enforcement order or official German government record confirming the closure is available. The BGBl. citation for the 2017 TierErzHaVerbG amendment (BGBl. I, p. 2147) is documented in the 2017 legislation record.
Related record: The Germany 2017 – TierErzHaVerbG amendment record documents the legislative instrument that produced this closure. The two records together constitute the Germany fur farming sequence: the legal basis change (2017) and the operational cessation (2019).
Notice an inaccuracy or omission?
If you believe information on this page is incorrect, incomplete, or missing important context, you may submit a suggested correction for review.