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Veterinary Ireland is calling for the slaughter of minks in Ireland “as soon as practically possible” after a coronavirus mutation was detected in Denmark.
r Mark Dalton, spokesman for Veterinary Ireland, said that it is already included in the Program for the Government, that mink farms should be closed.
Dr Dalton felt that the fact that a coronavirus mutation had been found in mink in Denmark only added to the need to shut down Irish mink farms.
He told Today with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1 that the best option was to slaughter the minks on Irish farms.
It was simply a question of “when” this would happen, he added.
“Veterinary Ireland is very aware that we are talking about the livelihoods of the people here,” said Dr. Dalton. “There must be a compensation package, but it was already imperative (to euthanize minks) for welfare reasons.
And now that would seem to be a precautionary principle because the downside is potentially huge. There is an additional imperative. “
Six countries have reported coronavirus outbreaks in mink farms. These are Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and the United States.
There are three mink farms in Ireland: in Kerry, Donegal and Laois. Testing is ongoing at the locations, RTÉ reported. Dr. Dalton said he thought the final decision on when mink farms would be closed would be made with the Department of Agriculture in conjunction with the Department of Health.
“The reported events are very serious,” he said. Retired mink farmer Redmond O’Hanlon said, “Two veterinarians introduced mink farming to this country.”
And no evidence of cruelty was found, O’Hanlon said.
“The closure of the mink farms is purely ideological,” he said.
The former mink farmer claimed that Veterinary Ireland had been influenced by animal rights groups, something that Dr. Dalton denied.
O’Hanlon said the mink trade is a “huge” business and believes that if Irish farms close, along with other European farms, “China will not close, but they will benefit from the loss of mink in Western countries … “
O’Hanlon claimed that minks are “isolated” on farms because of what he said was a risk of animal rights advocates entering. And he blamed activists for releasing 3,000 minks from a farm in the wild in the 1960s. There are an estimated 33,500 wild minks in Ireland. Animals are aggressive and are known to be susceptible to Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
Dr. Dalton said that one of the main concerns about mink was volatile animals that live in crowded conditions.
But the detection of the virus in other countries had only increased pressure to close farms, he said.
O’Hanlon stated that the minks were very well cared for.
He asked why mink farms were being labeled negatively while hens were “in small cages their entire lives, just laying eggs.”
“The only small difference is that the chickens don’t want to kill each other, while the minks do,” he added. MrO’Hanlon said that if all employees at the mink farm are tested and the animals isolated, “they can continue to farm without any incidence of this.”
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