The government of Denmark is going to kill 15 million minks due to their carrying covid with a unique mutation.
Denmark Will Kill All Farmed Mink, Citing Coronavirus Infections
I gather from new articles and reports that Sars-CoV-2 seems to able to transmit quite readily back and forth between humans and minks (and potentially other fur farm species, such as raccoon dogs, also), and to mutate quite easily within the mink populations.
This is worrisome, as the new strains could be more dangerous to humans and as vaccines currently being developed might not be effective against these new strains. The mink populations continuing to serve as a reservoir for continued transmission, new spillovers and mutated strains of Sars-CoV-2 is something we absolutely have to avoid if we ever want to beat this pandemic.
The Danish decision is regrettable, but unfortunately necessary. What is unclear to me is whether they will allow the fur farm industry in Denmark to restart with new imported minks, or whether this is the end for that industry, as it probably should be.
Don't be a Mink in Holland either I believe,...or Spain.
After Covid-19 infections were detected on a number of mink farms, resulting in all minks on those farms, about a million in total, being culled, the Dutch government has decided to end mink fur farming and close more than 100 farms in the Netherlands by March 2021. The Dutch government had already decided to end this industry prior to Covid-19, but they are expediting this process now.
Here in Belgium there are still 8 active mink fur farms in Flanders. By law they have to close at the end of 2023. Surprisingly so far no Covid-19 has been detected in Flemish fur farms, despite the close ties between those farms and the Dutch farms and the high Covid-19 case rates in Belgium (among the worst not just in Europe but also in the world). However possible infections are being closely monitored and if they do show up cullings and a more rapid end of the industry seems likely.
I was really shocked when I watched a little documentary on YouTube about a fur farmer, who trully believed the conditions for his minks were all right, since they were legal. I'm not sure I'm legitimate saying I'd like them to close as I eat meat and most the times the conditions are even worse for chickens and such, but I think legal conditions are ridiculous.
Do you by any chance have the name or a link to the clip you watched? I would be interested in seeing it also.
Personally I found the conditions I saw in the news reports on the Dutch and Danish fur farm situations rather deplorable and very unsuitable to the biology of American minks. Quite easily among the worst I have ever seen in reports on farmed animals, even when considering some very questionable animal agriculture practices I have seen clips of.
With regards to animal agriculture I would also argue that meat, dairy and eggs are essential products, while fur here in Europe is not, and that domesticated animals like cattle, chickens, pigs and so on probably are to some extent adapted to modern farming situations. That is not to say there are not welfare issues to be addressed with farm animals - and while agricultural animal welfare laws exist to a lesser or greater extent in many countries, there are still areas for improvement there.
On a final note: with regards to spillover between humans and animals under human care, I wonder whether there are implications for zoos here. Of course the conditions and herd or flocks sizes in zoos are generally quite different from those on intensive farms, but there have already been cases of Sars-CoV-2 spillover from humans to zoos animals. So I do think this is something to be carefully looked at.
