Minks for breeding, it is massacre in Denmark. On 4 November, the Copenhagen government ruled that about 17 million mink bred in the country had to be killed in order to produce and export fur.

The reason is that, as noted by the government agency Statens Serum Institut, some of these animals were carriers of a mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2, already transmitted to a group of people . The ventilated risk – of which the World Health Organization

was immediately informed – is that, in the event of spread, the mutated virus could compromise the efficacy of vaccines useful for fighting the pandemic.
 

The mink slaughter

Denmark is one of the European countries with the longest tradition in mink farming. After the news of the infection, the government decreed the immediate culling of all the specimens to try to prevent the spread of the new strain. 

The potential risk was judged to be high because people infected with the new form of the virus did not respond positively to forming antibodies: a danger to the effectiveness of the vaccine , given that all candidates rely on the production of neutralizing antibodies. 

“We are the world’s largest producer of mink fur and scientific studies show that the mutant variant of the virus that minks carry appears resistant to any type of Covid 19 vaccine in preparation or almost ready ” said Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. , justifying his choice. “ The risk is too high and I don’t want us to shoulder the responsibility of opening the door to a new vaccine – free Covid 19 in the name of our interest in fur exports. So the extreme decision is inevitable, in the interest of the whole world ”.

The Prime Minister later apologized for deciding to extend the culling of mink to uninfected specimens.without an effective legal basis , nevertheless reiterating the need to react quickly and hard to contain the virus.

He also announced support measures for mink farmers and the local community affected by the action. 

To accommodate the bodies of the culled mink, mass graves were dug under the supervision of the Danish health authority, in agreement with the armed forces.

The regional lockdown

Alongside the killing of animals, the Prime Minister has established a lockdown in the “red zone” of North Jutland . In fact, in this region, about 350 positive people had been discovered in the previous days. The alarm went off when a mutated version of the virus was found in 12 of them.

After an appropriate assessment by the health authorities, however, on November 13 the government announced in a press conference that it was possible to relax some of the most stringent restrictive measures .

Minks victims of human greed: the positions of animal rights activists

From a virological point of view , intensive farming is very dangerous. By foreseeing the presence of thousands of animals crowded into cages that are too small, in fact, they favor the passage of mutations. Mutations that follow one another fast, making the virus potentially stronger and immune to any countermeasures designed to counter it.

For many animal welfare associations, the situation only confirms the thesis according to which intensive farms must be closed as soon as possible and the breeding of animals for fur production should be prohibited .

According to estimates from Being Animals, in Italy there are eight mink farms: there are over 60 thousand animals that, every year, are born between April and May and then killed between December and January to get their fur.

For years, animal welfare organizations have been asking to close the remaining mink farms, first of all to respect the rights of those who are considered to all intents and purposes production animals.

The drastic decision adopted by the Danes led the association Lav (Anti-vivisection League) to launch an online petition and to appeal again to the Italian government to ” finally decide to definitively ban the breeding of mink and animals for the production of furs in Italy. “.

For its part, the organization Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) reiterates  in a note : “Fur farms are breeding grounds for the spread of pandemics. Just like mink farms in Denmark, Holland, Spain and the United States – which have been subject to outbreaks – farms in Italy are filled with sick, stressed and ailing animals living in unsanitary conditions, thus facilitating the spread of the disease. We invite Italy once again to follow in the footsteps of many European countries and close all farms “.