CLOSE EYE ON CANADIAN MINK FARMS.

Strict measures after overseas farms hit hard

Canadian mink farms are limiting visitors as minks are showing signs of COVID-19 infection in the Netherlands, U.S., Spain and Denmark.

“When the news came out a bit over a month ago from Europe, that gave our people lead time and they brought in enhanced biosecurity,” said fur industry spokesman Alan Herscovici.

Some of the biosecurity measures include full personal protective equipment (PPE) and increased hand-washing for farm staff, as well as restrictions on who can be on the farms.

In early November, the Danish government ordered a massive cull of the country's 17 million minks, which are farmed for their pelts, to head off infection carrying over to the human population.

Canada has approximately 70 mink farms, raising fewer than two million mink at any given time — a fraction of the 17 million mink in Denmark. The highest concentration of those farms is in Ontario and Nova Scotia, based on the latest figures.

“There are no known cases of COVID-19 on mink farms in Ontario or Canada,” the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said via an email.

Matthew Moses, a Nova Scotia mink farmer and the president of the Canada Mink Breeders Association, has been impressed by the rapid uptake of the increased safety measures by Canadian farmers.

“Farmers traditionally are not great at changing their practices but I've cold-called a number of farms just to emphasize the importance of this,” Moses said. “It's been overwhelming just how serious Canadian farmers are taking this.”

Over the past 10 years, Canadian mink farming went into a steep decline as European and Asian fur producers swamped the market. Nationwide, the number of mink farms dropped from 240 in 2010 before finally stabilizing around 70 in recent years.

While mink farmers such as Moses are dealing with the threat of COVID, they are also aware of public fears.

The risk is much more contained in Canada with the 70odd farms spread out across the country, far from major cities, Moses pointed out.

“People don't necessarily understand the situation and they feel it may pose a great risk. Certainly, those of us in the industry know we are in a very, very drastically different situation here than what there is in Denmark,” he said.

The cull in Denmark came after scientists in Copenhagen tracked a new mutation in outbreaks on mink farms.

“Mutation happens all the time, but once in a while these mutations happen in the spike protein,” Anders Fomsgaard, SSI'S head of virus research, told the BBC.