Copenhagen

Mink slaughter suspended: Denmark’s farmed minks had a temporary reprieve this week, when an order to cull all 17 million of them was suspended. The order was issued last week, after 11 people were diagnosed with a mutant strain of the Sars-CoV2 virus that originated on a mink farm – and that might make vaccines less effective. But days after some of Denmark’s 1,000+ mink farms started gassing their animals, it emerged that the government had no right to order the cull. And with some MPs worried that any such slaughter would destroy the industry, it is not clear if the necessary legislation will now clear parliament

Politiken (Copenhagen)

Last week, Denmark announced that it was to slaughter its entire population of 17 million farmed mink, says Politiken. The animals had been found to be infected with a mutated form of Covid-19 and were to be killed to prevent the mutant version, which has so far infected 11 people, potentially jeopardising the efficacy of a future vaccine. The decision was a drastic, and expensive, one: Denmark is the world’s biggest producer of the luxury fur – and the order put at risk hundreds of millions of euros in lost export revenue, and thousands of jobs. Yet it emerged on Tuesday that the order to cull all mink – which was already under way – had no legal basis, and the opposition refused to support emergency legislation. So far, Denmark has weathered the virus fairly successfully: PM Mette Frederiksen has won praise for her leadership, which has observed the “extreme precautionary principle”. So the loss of control in this area is particularly shocking: it is feared that a new version of the virus may have already escaped from Denmark. At the same time, the order to kill healthy mink outside of the infected zones has been met with scepticism and dismay in the industry. Someone must take responsibility for a litany of errors that could cost Denmark “very, very” dearly.