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To amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the captivity of mink, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the captivity of American mink for fur production, including their transport, sale, breeding, and possession in interstate or foreign commerce. The prohibition applies to mink whether alive or dead, and to any parts, products, or offspring. Exceptions are provided for entities such as zoos, research facilities, and educational institutions under the Lacey Act Amendments. The bill authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to purchase privately owned mink farms, with compensation based on the farm's recent 3-year average number of mink and the farm's infrastructure value.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
6 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Vern Buchanan’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- SELECT MEDICAL CORPORATION $43,200
- FLORIDA CRYSTALS $16,100
- DERICK DERMATOLOGY $13,200
- BLACKSTONE $8,100
- CASL $7,609
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Vern Buchanan → · Outside spending →
Actions (4)
- Jan 13, 2026 Referred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture. · house
- Jan 13, 2026 Referred to the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry. · house
- Dec 9, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. · house
- Dec 9, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 9, 2025
Mr. Buchanan (for himself and Ms. DeLauro) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the captivity of mink, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Minks In Narrowly Kept Spaces are Superspreaders Act” or the “MINKS are Superspreaders Act”.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CAPTIVITY OF MINK.
The Animal Welfare Act is amended by inserting after section 19 (7 U.S.C. 2149) the following:
“SEC. 20. PROHIBITION ON CAPTIVITY OF MINK.
“(a) In General.—Except as provided in subsection (b), no person shall transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce, or breed or possess, any American mink (Neovison vison) raised in captivity for fur production, whether dead or alive, or any part, product, or offspring thereof.
“(b) Exception.—Subsection (a) does not apply to an entity described in any of subparagraphs (A) through (E) of section 3(e)(2) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3372(e)(2)).
“(c) Buy-Out of Mink Farms.—
“(1) In general.—Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary shall seek to purchase privately owned mink farms for an amount determined under paragraph (2).
“(2) Amount.—In determining an amount to offer a mink farmer to purchase the applicable mink farm pursuant to paragraph (1), the Secretary shall take into account—
“(A) the most recent 3-year average of the number of mink owned by the mink farmer; and
“(B) the infrastructure value of the mink farm.”. <all>
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