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Denmark is a world leader in the mink industry and last year the country exported mink furs worth DKK 4.9 billion, according to Danmarks Radio.
Now the whole industry is expected to go to the grave in practice. Since a mutated variant of the coronavirus was found among herds, there has been a massive slaughter of animals. Today, the Folketing will also debate and vote on a bill banning mink farming in the country in 2021.
– In principle, Denmark will be permanently away from the market. Breeding animals are practically gone and it takes forever to get back, Jörgen Martinsson, CEO of Swedish mink, tells TT.
“A shame”
Around eleven million Danish minks have been killed and destroyed. Only around four million minks have been killed with the goal of turning into fur. During the pandemic, Jörgen Martinsson had close contact with his Danish colleagues.
– The first shock has turned into pain. Then there is political chaos and political scandal in the aftermath of all this, he says.
The amount of financial compensation that mink farmers will receive is something that the Folketing parties will negotiate and according to Danmarks Radio, the bill could reach around DKK 20 billion.
In some cases, the mutated coronavirus among Danish minks has spread to humans, and it was feared that a future vaccine might be ineffective.
Illegal decision
The Danish Social Democratic government made the decision that all minks, including healthy animals, should be euthanized, but a few days later the decision turned out to be illegal. On November 18, the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Mogens Jensen (S) resigned to address the issue.
The Folketing has decided to appoint an investigation into how the mink problem has been handled.
Daniel Kihlström / TT
Annually, about 50 million mink furs are produced in the world and about a third come from Denmark, which is the world’s largest mink breeder.
Production is also large in China, Poland and the Netherlands, among other places.
In the Netherlands, a decision was made in 2013 to ban mink farming and the industry was given ten years for a controlled elimination. However, due to the severe virus outbreak among herds in the country, the Dutch state decided to advance the ban until 2021.
In Sweden, there are about 40 crews, of which about half at Listerlandet in Blekinge.
About 90 percent of Swedish furs are sold to Chinese buyers.
Sources: Ritzau, Swedish mink
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