COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — 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. Now the country plans to dig up the dead animals after they started to rise out of their shallow graves. Denmark will cull about 17 million mink after a mutated form of coronavirus that can spread to humans was found on mink farms. Either way there is gonna be a supply because there is demand.”. “It’s horrible. “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 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. But a cull of the country’s entire mink population is put on hold. Denmark is the world’s most prolific producer of mink pelts: with between 15 and 17 million of the animals housed in more than 1,000 mink farms when the cull was announced (meaning the mink population is at least treble that of Denmark’s human one). [15], On 20 December 2020, the Danish Parliament passed a draft bill to ban mink farming until 2022. Ministry staff conducted inspections at each of the province’s licensed mink farms to … Outrage fomented in Denmark after images and videos of botched killings and mass mink graves circulated, and farmers spoke to the hardship this would cause them. Spain, Sweden, Italy, and the US have all been affected, as has the Netherlands, where mink farming will be outlawed by spring next year. 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 … It’s why both Weese and Runstadler say more studying needs to be done to understand Covid-19 in minks. 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 wants to ban mink farming until end 2021 (Associated Press) Denmark has found 214 people infected with mink-related coronavirus: State Serum Institute (Reuters) An excavator dumps dead mink into a ditch earlier this month. 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. What is known, though, Ontario Veterinary College professor Scott Weese said, is that viruses don’t automatically work their way into cells. “That would lead one to think that the virus has retained the capability of replication and infection in other animal hosts as well.”. (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 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. Under UK law, minks, as well as foxes and moles, are protected under … Kopenhagen Fur, a cooperative of 1,500 Danish breeders, accounts for … More than 50 million mink a year are bred for their fur, mainly in China, Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland. 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. 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. AFP - December 21, 2020 11:51 PM. [21] Fashion house Birger Christensen, purveyor to the Danish royal family, is "the finest furrier in Copenhagen" and sells only Saga Royal grade fur. Economic support packages have … The virus, officials said, spread from human handler to mink, mutated, and then spread back to humans. Denmark passed a law Monday banning mink breeding for a year, following the country’s controversial cull of all the animals over a mutated strain of the coronavirus, according to reports. It also attaches pretty well to cats, but not as well to dogs and cows, he said. “This will end our business.”. Runstadler, who studies emerging diseases in animals, said the outbreak in minks hasn’t surprised many in his field, in part because of the conditions in which they live. 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’s prime minister broke down in tears Thursday while visiting a mink farmer whose herd was killed on government orders meant to curb … 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. [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. Jeppe Kofod said at a press conference in early November. If Russia doesn’t, China will. 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. Today, more than 45% of the global market is produced or processed in Denmark. 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. The decision to cull the minks was a drastic one. [20] Major export markets for Danish mink are China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. 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”. Mink give birth to their litter of generally five offspring in the nesting boxes; they also feed the litter in the nesting boxes. 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. 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. Climatic conditions in Denmark, where the winter is mild and the summer is cool, are considered ideal for husbanding animals with fur cover. Nesting boxes are attached inside the cage. After news of mink farm outbreaks in Denmark broke in the fall, B.C. [3] Mink produced in Denmark is considered to be the finest in the world and is ranked by grade, with the best being Saga Royal, followed by Saga, Quality 1, and Quality 2. 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 fur farming industry directly employs 6,000 people in Denmark, 1,500 of whom are farmers. 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 minks are farmed for their fur, which is then used for various purposes, including coats, clothing and … Mink breeder Thorbjoern Jepsen holds up a mink, as police forcibly gained access to his mink farm in Gjoel, Denmark, on Oct. 9, 2020. If Copenhagen doesn’t farm the skins, Russia will. Mink farm owner Stig Sørensen in Bording, Denmark. 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 … Denmark, the world's largest mink fur exporter, produces an estimated 17 million furs per year. “These Covid-19 outbreaks and the grisly circumstances that have gone along with them in the mink industry are just more evidence that the fur industry needs to be finished.”. Still, “we’re definitely concerned,” Hoffman said, adding farmers are recommended to interact with mink the way they would humans during a pandemic: wearing proper PPE and keeping their distance. Data from animal rights group Humane Society International puts Denmark as the world’s second-largest exporter of mink fur, behind China. Culling is often the answer when data on animal spread is inconclusive. Denmark’s government has submitted a bill that would ban mink farming until 2022 while it seeks to address concerns that the animals may spread mutated variants of coronavirus to humans. 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. Economic support packages have been established for those affected. By Eli Cahan Aug. 18, 2020 , 10:55 AM. Fur farming is the practice of breeding or raising certain types of animals for their fur.. “Water rises all,” he said. All 12 cases were identified in September 2020 in North Jutland, Denmark. RELATED: Fraser Valley mink farm quarantined because of COVID-19 outbreak; Canada’s mink breeders increasing security to protect animals and industry from COVID Here in Denmark… Since the mass slaughter, hundreds of mink carcasses have emerged from their graves. 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