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The Department of Agriculture has informed the owners of three mink farms in Ireland that their minks will be euthanized to stop the possible spread of a mutated form of Covid-19.
A “variant” of the virus was detected in mink on a farm in Denmark.
Public health authorities worldwide are concerned that the variant form may prove to be more resistant to antibodies and say that if the mutated virus spreads, it could severely affect the effectiveness of vaccines.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has said that Ireland’s farm mink population should be eliminated due to concerns about a mutated form of Covid-19 detected at a mink farm in Denmark.
In a letter to the Department of Agriculture, Dr. Holohan said the move would be advised, as he said the presence of farmed minks presents “a continuing risk to public health” if the Covid variant found in Denmark were to become “the dominant virus strain “.
In the letter, Dr. Holohan refers to comments from Dr. Cillian De Gascun of NPHET raising the possibility that the herd will be considered for euthanasia due to a number of public health concerns.
The CMO told the Department of Agriculture that all minks must be slaughtered “urgently.”
Earlier this week, the situation was described to the department.
It is understood that there are no immediate plans to carry out the proposed cull, but Department of Agriculture officials have informed farm owners in Laois, Kerry and Donegal that it will happen.
Mink farmers have accused the government of slaughtering healthy animals, “without providing any scientific or legal basis.”
They say the decision has “left 3 farming families in rural Ireland devastated and without a livelihood.”
In a statement issued to RTÉ News, the farmers said the decision is a “copycat version” of a similar move in Denmark.
The farmers belong to the Fur Europe group.
The statement read: “While the Irish government relies on the recent Danish decision to euthanize all the animals on these farms, it fails to mention that the Danish decision was based on a rapid increase in the number of infected mink farms.
“This increase was caused by many farms located in the same geographic area, but this is far from being the case in Ireland where there are only 3 farms in rural areas located in Kerry, Donegal and Laois.”
There is already a commitment in the Program for the Government to eliminate mink farming in Ireland.
However, it is also understood that farms will be able to “skin” the remaining animals to fulfill backorders.
Peeling is when the skin of the animal is removed after the farmers have slaughtered it. The practice is known as “harvesting” in the industry.
A virologist at University College Dublin, Dr. Gerald Barry, has said that he is surprised by the decision to euthanize mink.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, he described it as “a little overreaction” and said science still doesn’t justify it.
The virus changes all the time, he said, and the variant seen in mink has already been seen in human populations.
He said that based on current evidence, the variant seen in mink in Denmark “is no more dangerous or transmissible” than any other variant circulating in the human population at the moment.
Dr Barry said concerns were raised when studies showed that the new variant identified in mink was “more resistant” than the previous antibodies it was tested against, leading to fears that it would not respond as effectively to a possible vaccine.
He said that any vaccine developed will adapt to new variants of the virus.
Six countries reported coronavirus in mink farms – WHO
Sweden’s health agency has said that several cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in people working in the mink industry.
Authorities are testing viruses from infected people and infected minks to see if there is a link between the cases and their contact with the minks, the Health Agency said in a statement.
Meanwhile, in Denmark, a plan to eliminate all its mink populations was scrapped after the industry raised concerns. The controversy has forced the country’s agriculture minister to resign.
Mogens Jensen resigned yesterday after criticism of his handling of the mink slaughter. Jensen admitted last week that the government’s order to euthanize all of Denmark’s 15 to 17 million minks had no legal basis.
The Danish government said it ordered the killing on November 4 out of fear that the mutated virus, which can pass to humans, threatens the effectiveness of any future human vaccines.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also faced calls to resign over the issue. Frederiksen publicly apologized and blamed the Ministry of Agriculture for the mistake.
However, a government investigation published yesterday showed that the decision to euthanize all the minks was made by all the top ministers.
It also found that before Ms Frederiksen issued the order on live television on November 4, her office was warned about legal issues with the shutdown of the mink farming industry.
This morning, the Danish Ministry of Health, citing an assessment by the State Serum Institute, which deals with infectious diseases, said that the new mutated strain of the coronavirus is “most likely” extinct.
No infections with the new variant of the virus, known as Cluster-5, have been recorded since Sept. 15, the ministry said.
The Danish Ministry of Health said today that this variant has probably been eradicated.
In a statement, the ministry said: “There have been no new cases of the ‘Cluster 5’ mink mutation since September 15, leading the Danish infectious disease authority SSI to conclude that this variant has probably been eradicated. “.
Additional information from Reuters
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