On November 4, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced that the country would kill all of its 17 million farmed mink due to a new mutation of the coronavirus that spread from the animals back to humans.
The move comes after authorities discovered new strains in both mink and humans that were less vulnerable to antibodies, sparking concern that the mutation would make future vaccines less effective.
The State Serum Institute, the Danish authority in charge of handling infectious diseases, found five antibody-resistant cases of COVID-19 in the mink farms and twelve in humans. “The worst-case scenario is a new pandemic, starting all over again out of Denmark,” added Kare Molbak, the Institute’s director who conducted the tests.
Denmark is the world’s largest mink fur producer, and its main export markets are Hong Kong and China. One of the country’s main challenges has been preventing the mutated virus from spreading across its mink farms over the past months. In October, one million mink that were either confirmed or suspected of having infections within five miles were discarded.
The decision to kill the entire population saddened the Prime Minister as he announced that the move was made with a ‘heavy heart.’ “We have a great responsibility towards our own population, but with the mutation that has now been found, we have an even greater responsibility for the rest of the world as well,” Frederiksen explained.
A recent study that has yet to be peer-reviewed found that Denmark isn’t the only place where the coronavirus has spread from mink to humans. It acquired evidence that people had contracted the virus from farmed mink in the Netherlands as well. So far, hundreds of thousands of mink have been killed in the Netherlands, Utah, and Spain due to the virus spreading to farmed populations.
Animal welfare activists urge to end fur farming permanently. “The right decision would be to end mink farming entirely and help farmers into another occupation that does not jeopardize public health and animal welfare,” advised Animal Protection Denmark.
Dr. Joanna Swabe, the Senior Director of Public Affairs for Humane Society International/Europe, praised the decision:
Denmark is one of the largest fur producers on the planet, so a total shutdown of all Danish mink fur farms amid spiraling Covid-19 infections is a significant development. Although not a ban on fur farming, this move signals the end of suffering for millions of animals confined to small wire cages on Danish fur farms solely for the purposes of a trivial fur fashion that no one needs.
Each year, over 50 million mink are raised for the fur industry. Scientists still don’t know why the animals catch and spread the virus; however, they are often kept in crowded environments that encourage disease spread. Once infected, the lucky ones get sick and recover, while others become very sick and die.
