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Wednesday 04 November 2020
Millions of minks have to die “as soon as possible”: not from fur production, but because a mutated form of the coronavirus has been detected in many of their companions. Several people have already been infected in Denmark. The government is now pulling the emergency brake.
After crown buds on several farms, Denmark has announced the emergency killing of all minks in the country. In some of the animals, a mutated form of the virus was found that could also be transmitted to humans, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said. “It is necessary to cull all the minks,” he added. There is a risk that the mutated virus could render future vaccines ineffective.
The emergency killing of the animals should start “as soon as possible,” Danish Police Chief Thorkild Fogde said. However, he admitted that with 15 to 17 million minks on more than 1,000 farms, this was “a very big company.” Denmark is the world’s largest exporter of mink fur.
The coronavirus has been detected in 207 mink farms, in some cases in a mutated version. Health authorities determined that the new form of the pathogen cannot be inhibited by antibodies to the same extent as its original form. Health Minister Magnus Heunicke stressed that the virus poses a particular threat.
A mutated version of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus has already been found in twelve people in North Jutland, Frederiksen said. At the same time, he warned that the mutation could spread not only to other parts of Denmark, but to the rest of the world as well. The mink farmers are being compensated, as Food Minister Mogens Jensen said. The fur population has already been killed on 67 farms. After similar crown outbreaks in mink, the Netherlands decided in early June to kill all fur animals on affected farms.
