Danes shelve mink cull after opposition objects

Denmark will suspend a plan to immediately slaughter millions of mink, after opposition lawmakers slammed the government’s handling of the matter.

The proposed cull — about 17 million animals were to be gassed and either burned or thrown into mass graves — generated global interest last week amid fears that a new covid mutation that started in Danish mink farms might hamper efforts to develop a vaccine.

But it’s now clear the Social Democrat administration of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, which initially issued an order to mink farmers, lacks the three-quarters majority needed to pass such emergency legislation through parliament. Food and Fisheries Minister Mogens Jensen has since issued an apology for the plan.

“There are huge doubts relating to whether the planned cull was based on an adequate scientific basis,” Jakob EllemannJensen, the leader of the opposition Liberals, told broadcaster TV2. “At the same time, one’s depriving a lot of people of their livelihoods.”

Farmers, who had been promised financial incentives by the government to proceed swiftly, were reportedly halting their mass killings by Monday afternoon. Farmers will continue to put down infected animals, but not those that are healthy. About 2.5 million animals have already been killed, according to TV2.

Frederiksen’s administration still plans to put forward the emergency bill today but with an understanding that lawmakers will need longer to digest the proposal, according to an official close to the talks. The government also has the option to use the standard legislative route, which would only require more than 50% backing, but take longer.

Danish mink farmers and the center-right opposition bloc have characterized the government’s plan to kill Denmark’s entire mink population as an overreaction.