[ad_1]
“We made a mistake”: confusion over the radical slaughter of minks in Denmark
High safety precautions when killing mink in Denmark. Image: keystone
There is growing confusion in Denmark about the government-initiated mass killing of all minks in the country. There is still no legal basis for killing healthy fur animals outside certain risk areas, as admitted by Food Minister Mogens Jensen.
“We made a mistake. There is no legal authority to ask mink farmers outside the 7.8 kilometer zones to slaughter their minks,” Jensen told TV2 on Tuesday. He did not know when the announcement was made, but it did not change. the fact that mink farming in Denmark in the time of the Crown posed a risk: Farmers must continue to kill animals for public health reasons.
“Request” to remove healthy populations as soon as possible outside the 7.8 kilometer zones
Announcing the measure last Wednesday, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that all minks in Denmark must be killed to ensure a mutation of the coronavirus that has occurred in the mink is contained. In a communication from the Ministry of Environment and Food it said: “Based on a new risk assessment by the health authorities, the government has decided to euthanize all Danish mink populations.”
Dead minks are discarded. Image: keystone
The fur farmers were offered a bonus payment if they killed their animals within a few days. In a new letter from the food authority Fødevarestyrelsen to Danish mink farmers, it was said on Tuesday that they regretted that an earlier letter on Friday did not indicate that it was a “request” to kill healthy populations outside kilometer 7.8 as soon as possible. possible. Negotiated areas.
As TV2 reported, the law only covers infected mink farms and populations in a given area, they said 7.8 kilometers. The government now wants to create the legal basis for a fast track procedure to kill healthy minks. (aeg / sda / dpa)
