The minks are farmed for their fur, which is then used for various purposes, including coats, clothing and … Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen apologized for the killing, tearing up as she called it a “regrettable mistake” and admitting the government did not have the legal jurisdiction to cull so many animals. Denmark's mink farmers are mourning what they say is the death of their industry after a government order to cull all of their stocks over a mutated variant of the new coronavirus. [17] Danish fur farms produce about 15.6 million minks annually. It’s a very good match.”. News of “zombie minks,” pushed up from their shallow and quickly built graves by the gas created from their decomposing bodies, has only furthered anger. “With or without a cull, the animals on these farms would still be violently killed at some point,” Ashley Byrne, an associate director at PETA, said. Most of the world's farmed fur is produced by European farmers. Byrne called the farms a “recipe for a disaster” in a pandemic, stressing fur farms put humans at risk, too. Economic support packages have been established for those affected. [12], It was revealed in late November that the Minister for Agriculture, Mogens Jensen, and five other ministers had been made aware in September that the culling of the entire country's mink population, rather than just those in the infected areas, would be illegal. Since the mass slaughter, hundreds of mink carcasses have emerged from their graves. Right: Mink breeder with a young pearl mink, "FACTS: Denmark is the world's largest producer of mink fur", "Denmark says it will cull 17 million mink after discovering a mutated strain of COVID-19 that officials fear could 'restart' the entire global pandemic", "Ny corona-mutation er en kæp i hjulet pÃ¥ vaccinen: Det ved vi om 'cluster 5, "Methods for the identification of farm escapees in feral mink (, "The culling of minks in Denmark prompts a political crisis", "Danish Agriculture Minister Resigns Amid Criticism For Ordering Mink Cull", "Danish farm minister quits over mink scandal", "Danish lawmakers ban mink farming until 2022 amid coronavirus outbreak | DW | 21.12.2020", "Danish mink industry toasts a Chinese chill", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mink_industry_in_Denmark&oldid=995573244, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 21 December 2020, at 20:01. At least twelve people have been infected by the mink farm strain though hundreds of cases could be linked to it. Denmark's mink farmers are mourning what they say is the death of their industry after a government order to cull all of their stocks over a mutated variant of the new coronavirus. Concerted efforts of Kopenhagen Fur and Danish Animal Welfare Society (Dyrenes Beskyttelse), have optimized the environmental conditions for mink farming by developing rules, which received approval by the Ministry of Justice in 2007. Still, we don’t know much about how it works in minks or other animals, in part because scientists have been busy trying to figure out how Covid-19 affects humans. Animal Protection Denmark, an advocacy group, recommended a long-term solution to the problem of mink and coronavirus: “The right decision would be to end mink farming … But Denmark’s decision was not without detractors. Like every other fur farmer in Denmark, he has 10 days to kill his mink. By. mink farms in the U.S. are seeing Covid-19, Covid mink farm outbreaks brew controversy in the scientific community, tearing up as she called it a “regrettable mistake”. Kopenhagen Fur serves as a farmers' cooperative. “This virus attaches well to mink. As a result of Covid-19-related culls of mink in Denmark and the Netherlands, China could take over as the world’s top mink … (Henning Bagger /Ritzau Scanpix via AP) COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- The Danish government said Tuesday it wants to ban mink farming until the end of 2021, as it presented a law proposal that … In the December 2012 auction, there were 500 bidders with 85 percent of the pelts purchased by customers from China. Denmark is not the first country to report outbreaks on fur farms but it is the world's biggest producer. Facing calls for resignation from the parliamentary opposition and sharp public criticism,[13] Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen acknowledged that the order to cull all minks was illegal, and Jensen resigned on November 18. Today, more than 45% of the global market is produced or processed in Denmark. [5][6], American mink (Neovison vison) were introduced as a farm animal in Denmark in the mid-1920s[7] – European mink (Mustela lutreola) have never been recorded in Denmark. By 25 November, mink on all 289 affected mink farms, and farms within an assigned zone, were culled. “The easiest way to get rid of a problem is to get rid of the problem,” Weese said, “but that’s not always the best way.”. When outbreaks occur at farms, local health departments are mandating quarantines. Animal Protection Denmark, an advocacy group, recommended a long-term solution to the problem of mink and coronavirus: “The right decision would be to end mink farming … Now the country plans to dig up the dead animals after they started to rise out of their shallow graves. Denmark’s prime minister broke down in tears Thursday while visiting a mink farmer whose herd was killed on government orders meant to curb … [16], Climatic conditions in Denmark, where the winter is mild and the summer is cool, are considered ideal for husbanding animals with fur cover. The culling of at least 2.5 million minks in northern Denmark has started, authorities said Monday after the coronavirus has … It also attaches pretty well to cats, but not as well to dogs and cows, he said. [18] A Danish mink farm might have 13,000 cages, set in rows of 60 metres (200 ft) length, and 43 sheds in which two to four minks are housed. “When you’ve got a disease that is killing lots of people, there is less willingness to be lax with the animal side,” he said. The Danish government said Tuesday it wants to ban mink farming until the end of 2021, as it presented a law proposal that would allow for … Fish waste from the fishing industryis used as feed at mink farms. COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- The Danish government said Tuesday it wants to ban mink farming until the end of 2021, as it presented a law proposal that … Morten Stricker / Ritzau Scanpix via AFP - Getty Images file. Mink are seen at the farm of Henrik Nordgaard Hansen and Ann-Mona Kulsoe Larsen near Naestved, Denmark on Nov. 6, 2020. Additionally, mink farming has been banned in Denmark until 31 December 2021, including import and export of live mink. Police said the culling of the 15 million mink should … Most of its exports go to China and Hong Kong. Danish research played a vital role in the creation of a new set of European rules to protect fur animals launched in 1999. Denmark is the world's biggest producer of mink fur, with a turnover of some 1.1 billion euros a year. The Danish government said Tuesday it wants to ban mink farming until the end of 2021, as it presented a law proposal that would allow for the culling of 15 million minks as announced last week. AFP - December 21, 2020 11:51 PM. But we do know a few things that are raising eyebrows. The fur farming industry directly employs 6,000 people in Denmark, 1,500 of whom are farmers. "We would rather go a step too far than take a step too little to combat Covid-19,” the country’s foreign minister Jeppe Kofod said at a press conference in early November. Mink farming in numbers Farmed mink is the single most important fur type produced in North America today, in terms of the number of pelts produced and the value of the fur. Mink breeder Thorbjoern Jepsen holds up a mink, as police forcibly gained access to his mink farm in Gjoel, Denmark, on Oct. 9, 2020. The culling began late last month, after many mink cases were detected. [9] In 1983, it produced 8.3 million pelts, amounting to 22 percent of world production, and in 2002, it produced 12.2 million pelts, representing nearly 40 percent of world production. The Danish government spared no mink, killing infected and healthy animals, alike. Denmark on Monday banned mink farming until the start of 2022 after it emerged that a strain of the coronavirus can be passed between the animals and humans. But a cull of the country’s entire mink population is put on hold. “They put down cows when they have cow disease, they put down chickens when they have salmonella, this isn’t the first time animals have been killed for disease purposes. The small, ferret-like mammals farmed for their valuable fur have raised alarm after contracting and mutating the coronavirus, passing it back to humans. More than 50 million mink a year are bred for their fur, mainly in China, Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland. Similarly, in response to the coronavirus outbreaks in mink farms, the Netherlands is moving up its mink fur farming ban from 2024 to 2021. Thousands of killed mink being buried at the Jydske Dragonregiment's training ground at Noerre Felding near Holstebro in Denmark, after Denmark, the world's biggest producer of mink fur, had announced it would cull all of the country's minks after a mutated version of the new coronavirus was detected at its mink farms and had spread to people, on Nov. 12, 2020. Denmark is one of the world's main mink fur exporters - producing millions of furs per year. At fur farms, scientists have seen Covid-19 transfer from minks to cats through mink manure, and are worried about what would happen if it gets into wildlife populations. [11], In November 2020, a mutated strain of COVID-19 was found in the animals necessitating the government to cull seventeen million mink because of a fear that they could be the catalyst for restarting the international pandemic. Denmark has reported 214 human cases linked to mink farms, of which 12 are thought to be of cluster 5. “I worry we are not doing enough to monitor that situation to make sure this virus isn’t spilling into the animal populations,” Runstadler said. The virus, officials said, spread from human handler to mink, mutated, and then spread back to humans. Data from animal rights group Humane Society International puts Denmark as the world’s second-largest exporter of mink fur, behind China. Outbreaks have been reported in … All 12 cases were identified in September 2020 in North Jutland, Denmark. Fuzzy thinking A covid-19 mutation belatedly forces Denmark to halt mink farming. Denmark's mink farmers are mourning what they say is the death of their industry after a government order to cull all of their stocks over a mutated variant of the new coronavirus. 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