The Irish government announced on Thursday that will euthanize farm minks for fear that they carry a human-transmissible coronavirus mutation, detected in Denmark in these small mammals reared for their skins.

“Continuing with the breeding of mink represents a continuous risk of new variants emerging” of the virus linked to this animal, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement.

Although no case has been detected in the country so far, the Health Ministry “has recommended that mink raised in Ireland be slaughtered to reduce or eliminate the risk,” he added.

According to Irish media, this small country of 5 million people has three mink farms, where about 100,000 of these mammals live.

The Ministry of Agriculture is in close contact with the breeders “to discuss the next steps.”

At the beginning of November, Denmark, the world’s largest mink exporter, ordered the elimination of all its mink specimens – between 15 and 17 million – after discovering a mutation of the new coronavirus transmissible to humans that could, according to Copenhagen, compromise the efficacy of a future vaccine.

This Thursday, the Danish Ministry of Health stated that this mutation of the virus is “most likely extinct.”