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Denmark’s prime minister admitted that the mass killing of minks she authorized last week was illegal, as opposition parties called for the resignation of the agriculture minister who has been overseeing the policy.
Mette Frederiksen announced last week that all of the country’s mink would have to be euthanized due to fear that a Covid-19 mutation that moves from mink to humans could jeopardize future vaccines.
On Monday, however, after political opposition to the slaughter emerged, the Danish government abandoned an attempt to pass emergency legislation that would have supported the slaughter order. Answering questions in parliament on Tuesday, Frederiksen rejected allegations that he knew last week’s culling order was illegal. “We were informed of the illegality [this] weekend, ”he said.
Frederiksen urged calm, saying the priority was “to guide Denmark through the pandemic as best as possible.”
The slaughter had already started and, according to a spokesperson for the Danish Ministry of Food and Environment, continues in the infected areas. Outside the infected areas, he said, the slaughter continues with farmers who want to cooperate. The ministry is in charge of leading the slaughter.
The official tally of slaughtered minks is 2.5 million animals, although a spokesman for the Danish police, which is helping with the slaughter, said the latest figure was likely higher.
Denmark’s agriculture minister, Mogens Jensen, had already apologized for handling the slaughter on Monday. “We have made a mistake. There was no legal reason to ask farmers to slaughter their minks outside the infected areas, ”he told Danish cable agency Ritzau.
Critics, including the chairman of the Danish People’s Party, Kristian Thulesen Dahl, have called for Jensen’s resignation.
But support for the continuation of the sacrifice came from other quarters, including the corporate sector and welfare activists.
The country’s largest business organization, the Confederation of Danish Industry, said compensation was now the key issue.
In a statement to The Guardian, the confederation’s director of international policy, Peter Thagesen, said that the sacrifice was sad and difficult, but that “the government and companies are working together to limit the spread of Covid-19, and even now our [virus containment] the strategy has proven to be very effective ”.
He added that mink farmers had “worked for centuries to build their businesses … [and it is important] they will be compensated according to their loss ”.
Warnings of new mutations, as well as support for slaughter and appropriate compensation arrangements, also come from the Danish State Serum Institute, the public health body that advises the government.
“We know there will be more mutations, ”said an SSI spokesperson. “We already had five. the [mutated] infection is not the concern, it is not harmful. It is the risk that mutations have for vaccines and antibody treatments ”.
The spokesperson said that as of Tuesday, 11 people were known to have the variant of the mink, known as Cluster-5. “There were 12 and one was withdrawn. September was the last case [identified by the SSI]”Said the spokesman.
For farmers outside infected areas, like Nicki Løbner, the confusion is making the situation worse. In an interview with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Løbner said it had been a “roller coaster ride, and it’s not a good place to be.”
“In a minute we hope to be able to have some animals because we are in the uninfected zone. The next minute, they tell us we can’t. We just have to find out what we can and cannot do, ”he said.
Birgitte Damm, a policy adviser and veterinarian at the NGO Animal Protection Denmark, said that without the slaughter there would be “a continuous daily spread of the Covid-19 virus between mink farms and a constantly increasing reservoir of virus as long as the animals are not slaughtered. minks “.
Damm said gassing was a very troublesome method of killing and urged farmers and authorities to do everything possible to follow the correct procedures, despite the “scale and rush”.
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