Denmark announces cull of 15 million mink over Covid mutation fears

[rcjordan]

That's a lot of minks!

LM posted earlier that we'd had a mink cull in Utah.


https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/04/denmark-announces-cull-of-15-million-mink-over-covid-mutation-fears

[Torben]

 Suddenly the US elections where not in the news.

They found 12 cases of COVID-19 with a mutation from mink. Mutations could potentially lead to COVID-20, so they decided to shut down the whole industry

[buckworks]

Mink are mean, smelly little animals with wonderful fur. Manitoba used to have a thriving mink industry which fed them waste from the fish processing plants on Lake Winnipeg. Changing fashions made the mink farms obsolete.

If mink are CV carriers / incubators, maybe that's not such a loss after all.

[rcjordan]

Denmark as the country is the largest producer of mink skins in the world, producing 40 percent of the world's pelts. 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. Major export markets for Danish mink are China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mink_industry_in_Denmark

Danish Agriculture & Food Council  /  Mink and Fur
https://agricultureandfood.dk/danish-agriculture-and-food/mink-and-fur

>Changing fashions

The anti-fur / anti-animal cruelty movement here in the US pretty much nuked the industry.  My daughter just put her mother-in-law's 1960s mink coat out in the family room to use as a throw.

[rcjordan]

Danish farmers lament decision to cull all Denmark's minks | TribLIVE.com
https://triblive.com/news/world/danish-farmers-lament-decision-to-cull-all-denmarks-minks/

[Rumbas]

..and it's from my part of the country growing up. You could almost always see of smell a farm.

Locking down the country completely up north making it impossible to visit our folks and inlaws and the summerhouse etc.
6-7000 people without a job over night. Some have spent 20 years breeding and building a solid base of animals. All gone.

We're going to see a huge spike in depression. Fatal for the area, but probably the right thing to do.

>The anti-fur / anti-animal cruelty movement
Been an ongoing case for years here as well.

[rcjordan]

The United Kingdom has banned travelers from Denmark.

The new variant was also found to have spread to humans, with 214 confirmed infections as of Friday.

Denmark mink Covid crisis worsens. Here's what it means - CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/07/europe/mink-covid-19-denmark-update-intl/index.html

[rcjordan]

In the North Jutland Region, it is estimated that around 280,000 citizens will be tested

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/20000-nordjyder-skal-testes-i-weekenden-jeg-er-ikke-bange-men-svaert-ikke-blive-lidt

[rcjordan]

^Oops.

Danish Mink Cull Shelved After Government Botches Covid Response - BNN Bloomberg
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/danish-mink-cull-shelved-after-government-botches-covid-response-1.1519908

Danish PM apologises over mink cull blunder as thousands of carcasses dumped | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/denmark-mink-cull-pm-apology-b1720532.html

[Rumbas]

Huge shit show. Didn't have the proper legislation in place and now claims it was only "guidance" and not the law. Heads will roll for sure.

[littleman]

Dr. Fauci says it appears Covid strain from Danish mink farms won't be a problem for vaccines

"It does not appear, at this point, that that mutation that's been identified in the minks is going to have an impact on vaccines and affect a vaccine-induced response," Fauci said.

"It might have an impact on certain monoclonal antibodies that are developed against the virus. We don't know that yet. But at first cut, it doesn't look like something that is going to be really a big problem for the vaccines that are currently being used to reduce an immune response."

[rcjordan]

World's largest fur auction house will close as demand for animal pelts drops

https://blog.humanesociety.org/2020/11/worlds-largest-fur-auction-house-will-close-as-demand-for-animal-pelts-drops.html

[Rumbas]

This has turned into a major shit show. It seems the Cluster 5 version haven't been found since September and experts expect it to be dead now.
Mink farmers are outraged while killing millions of animals for no apparent reason. 1 minister have been fired. Whole administration crippled and the news are all over them.

Oh, had a record breaking day with highest amount of infected in a single day. Fun times.

[rcjordan]

Summary of assorted headlines:

There are 7 countries reporting mink-related covid.

Sweden & Ireland are going to initiate some sort of culling on their respective mink farms.