Denmark admits that the sacrifice of …

the Danish Ministry of Food admitted it was a “legal” error order all mink farms to euthanize these mammals to fight against a coronavirus mutation. However, to residents’ confusion, the agency urged farms to go ahead with this drastic measure as a “precaution”.

“We made a mistake. There is no legal basis for requiring mink farms to slaughter their animals outside of areas “where infected mammals have been detected.Food Minister Mogens Jensen told local television station TV2.

Still, Jensen urged the farms to continue to euthanize the animals as planned, as a precaution. “I encourage all mink farms to cooperate (…) because it is about helping public health in the best possible way“, he claimed.

The order to remove all mink in Denmark (between 15 and 17 million) came last week, when a mutation in the new coronavirus present in these mammals was discovered. In the country, the world’s largest exporter of mink fur, more than 2.4 million mink have already been killed. However, some farms continue to refuse to kill their healthy animals.

The mutant virus, called Group 5, was detected in 12 people, all from the North Jutland region in the northwest of the country. This mutation does not worsen complications caused by the coronavirus in humans, but it does acts on antibodies, reducing their effectiveness, which adds a problem to the development of the coronavirus vaccine, according to Danish authorities.

After this discovery, the authorities have since last Thursday imposed a total closure of one month in the seven municipalities in the farms of which they have detected cases. “I think it’s necessary. We are talking about a mutant virus that started in North Jutland and we are going to get rid of it in North Jutland ”, said Birgit Hansen, Mayor of the Municipality of Frederikshavn.

At the last moment, no more cluster 5 cases were detected, while the 12 registered, who would have been infected in September, are no longer active, it is therefore to be expected that the strain has been eliminated.

The law on the slaughter of mink was to be dealt with on Tuesday by an emergency procedure. However, due to the reluctance of the opposition and part of the support of the Social Democratic executive, which governs in a minority, Parliament has waived this express treatment. Thus, the bill will be dealt with according to the usual procedure, in three readings.

According to the WHO, there are already 6 countries that have reported cases of coronavirus in mink farms: Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the United States.