Covid 19 coronavirus: Denmark wants to cull all farmed minks over Covid fears

Mink breeder Thorbjoern Jepsen holds up a mink, as police forcibly gained access to his mink farm in Gjoel, Denmark, on October 9. Denmark is considering culling all farmed mink. Photo / AP

Denmark's prime minister said yesterday that the government wants to cull all minks in Danish farms, to minimise the risk of them re-transmitting the new coronavirus to humans.

Mette Frederiksen said a report from a government agency that maps the coronavirus in Denmark has shown a mutation in the virus found in 12 people in the northern part of the country who got infected by minks. Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said half the 783 human Covid-19 cases in northern Denmark "are related" to mink.

"It is very, very serious," Frederiksen said. "Thus, the mutated virus in minks can have devastating consequences worldwide."

Denmark is one of the world's main mink fur exporters, producing an estimated 17 million furs per year. Kopenhagen Fur, a cooperative of 1500 Danish breeders, accounts for 40 per cent of the global mink production. Most of its exports go to China and Hong Kong.

According to government estimates, culling the country's 15 million minks could cost up to 5 billion kroner ($1,175 billion). National police head Thorkild Fogde said "it should happen as soon as possible."

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen during a video summit conference on the coronavirus pandemic with other EU heads of state and government leaders on October 29. Photo / AP

Denmark's minister for food, Mogens Jensen, said 207 farms were now infected, up from 41 last month, and the disease has spread to all of the western peninsula of Jutland.

Last month, Denmark started culling millions of minks in the north of the country. The government has promised to compensate farmers.

The country has registered 50,530 confirmed Covid-19 infections and 729 deaths.

Denmark's prime minister says the government wants to cull all 15 million minks on fur farms, to minimise the risk of them re-transmitting the new coronavirus to humans. Photo / AP

A total of 207 out of the 1139 fur farms in Denmark has been infected with Covid-19, which prompted the announcement. Millions of mink will be killed as a result.

Animal welfare group Humane Society International applauded the prime minister for taking "such an essential and science-based step to protect Danish citizens," and said it hoped that losing so many mink to the coronavirus causes fur farms to get out of the business.

"Although the death of millions of mink - whether culled for Covid-19 or killed for fur - is an animal welfare tragedy, fur farmers will now have a clear opportunity to pivot away from this cruel and dying industry and choose a more humane and sustainable livelihood instead," Humane Society International-Europe spokesperson Joanna Swabe said.

- AP