Denmark will unearth millions of minks killed after the Covid-19 Cull crash

The drama began in November, when the government of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen signed the death sentence for the country’s 17 million minks, three times the human population. Researchers had discovered that farms where they were bred for their fur could act as a reservoir for a new strain of the virus (unrelated to the new variation recently found in the UK) that could resist the new vaccines that are now being rolled out. . Scientists who advised the government warned that the mutation could become endemic among wild mink, creating a lasting problem.

The massacre effectively brought the Danish mink industry, $ 750 million a year, the largest in the world, to an unedifying end.

Many Danes initially applauded the government’s quick decision. Denmark was also one of the first European countries to close its borders when the Covid-19 first appeared earlier this year, sprouting Ms Fredericksen’s leadership credentials in a country where politicians often dedicate their time to reach a broad consensus on important policy decisions.

Political opponents and many farmers, however, say their government acted in a hurry, while animal rights advocates said the episode meant Denmark would have to follow the UK, Germany and other countries that they have already banned fur farming.

First, legal experts called it unconstitutional computer. The government did not have the necessary legal support to impose the sacrifice; he later introduced retroactive legislation to cover it. The Agriculture Minister has resigned and opposition lawmakers are calling for more leaders to roll.

Farmers complained that no compensation agreement was established when the slaughter began. Last month they drove hundreds of tractors to the capital, Copenhagen, to present their case and are still waiting for details of what they could expect. A package was approved in Parliament on Monday.

Then the mink corpses began to reappear, pushed upwards by the ground by the gases released as their bodies decomposed. Danish newspapers began calling them “zombie mink”, unsettling the government when faced with a resurgence of Covid-19 among the human population.

The animals were supposed to have been cremated, but the scale of the massacre meant that up to 5.5 million minks were buried near the towns of Karup and Holstebro.

Eliminating animals has been a challenge. Mink are particularly susceptible to the virus because they are vulnerable to coronaviruses and are bred in well-packaged cages in large numbers, which facilitates their spread. The researchers found seven different types of mutations in the ear protein of the virus among farm mink after it was captured by farm workers. One of these mutations led to four genetic changes that increased the virus’s resistance to antibodies, which may make it more resistant to vaccines.

It was also found that a dozen agricultural workers had been infected by the mutation, making it the first known example of animals catching the human virus and then returning it. It has not spread further.

Outbreaks of the most transmitted form of Covid-19 have been detected on mink farms in other parts of Europe, where abandonment orders have also been imposed, and in the United States, where the Department of Agriculture of the week past said he had found a positive case in a wild mink in Utah as part of a wildlife surveillance project around infected farms.

“To our knowledge, this is the first free native wild animal to be confirmed with SARS-CoV-2,” the USDA said in an alert to the International Society for Infectious Diseases.

Danish mink breeders, on the other hand, have an uncertain future. Some farms had been raising mink for generations and Danish mink skins were considered the best in the world and were particularly sought after in China and Russia.

Animal rights advocates argue that slaughter should completely mark the end of the fur industry in Denmark. The industry is unlikely to recover in any case.

Without their breeding livestock, mink farmers will have a hard time getting back to the 20% premiums they charged on the world market and many have said they need to cover their margins. New legislation prohibits the reintroduction of mink to Denmark until the end of next year.

Leather is also falling steadily disadvantaged with the fashion industry, as the volume and price of furs have fallen by about half since 2014, according to the main exchange, Kopenhagen Fur.

The stock exchange says it now plans to complete operations over the next two to three years.

Write to James Hookway to [email protected]