Opponents say the eradication of all healthy mink was a breach of the Danish constitution. It’s why both Weese and Runstadler say more studying needs to be done to understand Covid-19 in minks. “There is still some debate over whether it's a relevant change, and there’s not a clear answer on that,” Weese said. Denmark wants to ban mink farming until end 2021 (Associated Press) Denmark has found 214 people infected with mink-related coronavirus: State Serum Institute (Reuters) The fur farming industry directly employs 6,000 people in Denmark, 1,500 of whom are farmers. 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 … Kaufman, whose family has been in the business since 1870, said his shop is busier this year than last, and customers aren’t talking about the minks getting Covid-19. Circa 2012, the average price per mink skin was 582 Danish crowns (US$100), then the highest price ever recorded at Kopenhagen Fur. Now the country plans to dig up the dead animals after they started to rise out of their shallow graves. Kopenhagen Fur, a cooperative of 1,500 Danish breeders, accounts for 40% of the global mink production. The Danish government spared no mink, killing infected and healthy animals, alike. (CNN) The United Kingdom has banned travelers from Denmark after the country reported a widespread outbreak of a new variant of the virus which causes Covid-19 in mink farms. Denmark will cull about 17 million mink after a mutated form of coronavirus that can spread to humans was found on mink farms. Amid a COVID-19 outbreak that has spread to humans, up to 17 million mink are set to be killed in Denmark’s largest-ever mass mink culling, according to BBC News. “This will end our business.”. This has an annual export value of EUR 1,1 billion. Denmark was forced to launch a wholesale cull of the country’s entire population of farmed mink due to a massive coronavirus outbreak among the animals. Denmark went so far as to cull 17 million minks in November in response to outbreaks at more than 200 mink farms. Mads Claus Rasmussen / AFP - Getty Images file. By. [1][2] Ranked third in Denmark's agricultural export items of animal origin, fur and mink skins have a yearly export value of about EUR 0,5 billion. Hoffman said the outbreaks are under control. Police said the culling of the 15 million mink should … When outbreaks occur at farms, local health departments are mandating quarantines. By Eli Cahan Aug. 18, 2020 , 10:55 AM. Mink fur of Denmark is exclusively auctioned through Kopenhagen Fur. [6] In November 2020, the Danish government announced that all remaining mink in Denmark would be culled by 16 November 2020. The government recommends mink farmers continue with the cull, but they are not required to do so until legislation that will be put forward soon is passed. 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. UK hospitals to isolate suspected 'mink Covid' patients amid mutant virus fears If Copenhagen doesn’t farm the skins, Russia will. ... negotiated and the government is introducing legislation effectively banning mink farming … 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 … Nesting boxes are attached inside the cage. Some 215 mink farms in Jutland region are infected with this type of coronavirus, and therefore a regional lockdown has been announced to curb the infection. Byrne called the farms a “recipe for a disaster” in a pandemic, stressing fur farms put humans at risk, too. If Russia doesn’t, China will. “It’s horrible. After news of mink farm outbreaks in Denmark broke in the fall, B.C. Fish waste from the fishing industryis used as feed at mink farms. Buried in shallow pits and trenches in Western Denmark, the dead minks were pushed out of the ground by gas emitted from their decomposing bodies, leading to more outrage and concern. A mutated form of the coronavirus has been found on around 200 of the country's mink farms, which total over 1,100 in number. “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. Denmark's government wants to dig up some of the culled minks from the mass graves. Denmark, the world's largest mink fur exporter, produces an estimated 17 million furs per year. Denmark is one of the world's main mink fur exporters, producing an estimated 17 million furs per year. The mutations in Danish mink, ... Before the pandemic, the Netherlands was already in the process of stopping intensive mink farming. By Ole Jensen/Getty Images. Fuzzy thinking A covid-19 mutation belatedly forces Denmark to halt mink farming. [10] Fur trade has been declared as one of the twenty nine "special competence clusters in Danish economic life" by the Ministry of Commerce in Denmark. Each auction typically sells some 260 million euro worth of fur and lasts five days. "We have 65,000 mink. “With furs, if it’s not made one place, it’s made some place else. The small, ferret-like mammals farmed for their valuable fur have raised alarm after contracting and mutating the coronavirus, passing it back to humans. Runstadler said it’s hard to know if minks are unique among other species in their ability to contract and spread the virus, or if they’re just in a situation that leads to such outbreaks. An excavator dumps dead mink into a ditch earlier this month. 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. [11] Though the country has some of the largest mink farms in the world, it also has many small business mink farms run by families. Mink farming was introduced to Denmark close to one hundred years ago and Denmark has become the world’s largest producer of mink skins. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Denmark, the world's largest mink fur producer, is to mass cull some 16 -17 million minks after mutated forms of coronavirus spread to humans. There are 5,000 fur farms in the EU, all located across 22 countries; these areas of production collectively account for 50% of the global production of farmed fur. What is known, though, Ontario Veterinary College professor Scott Weese said, is that viruses don’t automatically work their way into cells. Denmark culled 17 million minks in November in response to Covid-19 outbreaks at more than 200 mink farms. 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 … [20] Major export markets for Danish mink are China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. COVID-19 hits U.S. mink farms after ripping through Europe. Now it is about to embark on a massive cull of around 17 million mink … We know Covid-19 came from an animal host, and spilled into humans recently, said Jonathan Runstadler, professor in the department of infectious disease and global health at the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Part of the problem, he explained, is that we don’t know the effects of the spread. Even at peak, the Irish and Greek mink industries were never even a fraction the size of the now largely liquidated mink industry in Denmark, which before the COVID-19 pandemic produced about 40% of the mink pelts sold worldwide. 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. Denmark's parliament on Monday passed a law banning the keeping of minks for a year, following the country's controversial cull of all minks over a mutated strain of the novel coronavirus. Denmark, the world’s largest mink fur exporter, produces an estimated 17 million furs per year. 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. The northern region of the country, where most fur farms lie, was placed under strict lockdowns. The country's prime minister later apologized and its food and agriculture minister stepped down when the order to kill the animals was declared illegal. Here in Denmark… 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. [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. “We want to keep this a human virus,” Weese said. Mink breeder Thorbjoern Jepsen holds up a mink, as police forcibly gained access to his mink farm in Gjoel, Denmark, on Oct. 9, 2020. Additionally, mink farming has been banned in Denmark until 31 December 2021, including import and export of live mink. It’s a very good match.”. The culling began late last month, after many mink cases were detected. Plus, people don’t have the close attachment to minks they might dogs. Under UK law, minks, as well as foxes and moles, are protected under … “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. His department is helping the farms compost the mink bodies, and there are currently no conversations in the state about mass culling. The minks are farmed for their fur, which is then used for various purposes, including coats, clothing and … (Henning Bagger /Ritzau Scanpix via AP) Mink give birth to their litter of generally five offspring in the nesting boxes; they also feed the litter in the nesting boxes. The animals can’t move on or off the farm, said Kevin Hoffman, the public information officer for Wisconsin’s Division of Animal Health. There are no mink farms in the UK – fur farming was made illegal in the UK in 2000. Mink are seen at the farm of Henrik Nordgaard Hansen and Ann-Mona Kulsoe Larsen near Naestved, Denmark on Nov. 6, 2020. If farms with outbreaks were isolated, it’s not known whether the virus would circulate through all the minks and eventually die out. “When it gets cold, people need fur.”. IE 11 is not supported. Denmark is among the largest mink exporters in the world and produces an estimate 17 million furs per year. Mink at a farm in Denmark were found to be infected with the new coronavirus and all 11,000 of the animals there will have to be culled, Danish authorities said on Wednesday. The decision to cull the minks was a drastic one. The mink industry in Denmark produces 40 percent of the world's pelts, making Denmark the largest producer of mink skins in the world. Spain, Sweden, Italy, and the US have … “We should be identifying the interfaces where humans and animals are in close and frequent enough contact that virus spillover is possible, and doing surveillance.”. Most of its exports go to China and Hong Kong. [3][4], In November 2020, a mutated strain of COVID-19 known as "cluster 5" was detected among minks, leading the Danish Government to order the culling of 17 million minks in order to prevent a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. The culling of at least 2.5 million minks in northern Denmark has started, authorities said Monday after the coronavirus has … [14] A deal was later reached to retroactively make the government's order legal. Mink breeder Thorbjoern Jepsen holds up a mink, as police forcibly gained access to his mink farm in Gjoel, Denmark, on Oct. 9, 2020. I’m not even sure it’s dawned on me how grave the consequences will be for us. Why are minks farmed in Denmark? FILE - In this Dec. 6, 2012, file photo, minks look out of a cage at a fur farm in the village of Litusovo, northeast of Minsk, Belarus. [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. Symbols on the sketch: "D" on the sketch marks the entry gate, areas marked "A" represent segregated cages for male and female minks and "O" represents the trees grown in the open space. Danish mink farming has played a leading role in promoting animal welfare, and this included the first guidelines for fur animal research in 1985 at a time when no welfare rules existed for any other type of livestock farming. Minks that catch Covid-19 are sometimes spreading a mutated form of the virus back to humans. “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.”. 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