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All over the world, minks are getting sick.
Small ferret-like mammals bred for their precious fur sounded the alarm after contracting and mutating the coronavirus, transmitting it to humans.
The virus, officials said, spread from human manipulator to mink, mutated and then spread back to humans.
Denmark went so far as to cull 17 million mink in November in response to outbreaks in over 200 mink farms. The northern region of the country, where most of the fur farms are located, has been placed under close surveillance.
The Danish government did not spare the minks, killing infected and healthy animals alike.
“We would rather go too far than take too little to fight Covid-19,” the country’s foreign minister Jeppe Kofod said at a press conference in early November. The country’s prime minister later apologized and his food and agriculture minister stepped forward when the order to kill the animals was declared illegal.
The story, however, did not end there.
Since the mass slaughter, hundreds of mink carcasses have emerged from their graves.
Buried in shallow pits and trenches in western Denmark, the dead minks were pushed out of the ground by the gas emitted by their decaying bodies, causing further outrage and concern.
And across the Atlantic, mink farms in the United States are witnessing the spread of Covid-19 and death.
Here’s what’s going on.
Why do minks get Covid-19 in the first place?
We know that Covid-19 came from an animal host and recently spilled over to humans, said Jonathan Runstadler, a professor in the department of infectious diseases and global health at Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. “This would suggest that the virus has retained the ability to replicate and infect in other animal hosts as well.”
Runstadler, who studies emerging diseases in animals, said the mink outbreak did not surprise many in his field, in part because of the conditions they live in.
In fur farms, minks are densely packed in mature conditions for close contact with each other. These conditions could be ideal for shoving small mammals into metal machines that skin them for fancy coats and hats, but they can also be breeding grounds for the coronavirus.
Runstadler said it’s hard to know if minks are unique among other species in their ability to contract and spread the virus, or if they’re just in a situation that leads to such outbreaks.
What is known, however, Ontario Veterinary College professor Scott Weese said, is that viruses don’t automatically insinuate themselves into cells. They need to get attached to something.
“We have viruses that are just human viruses or dog viruses or cat viruses,” he explained. “This virus sticks well to mink. It’s a great match. “
It also sticks quite well to cats, but not quite as well to dogs and cows, he said. However, we don’t know much about how it works in minks or other animals, in part because scientists have been busy trying to understand how Covid-19 affects humans. But we do know some things that make eyebrows go up.
Minks that capture Covid-19 are sometimes spreading a mutated form of the virus to humans.
“Hitting people back is more of a personal concern,” Weese said. “Big picture, probably not a big deal because few people have any contact with mink.”
When outbreaks occur on farms, local health departments enforce quarantine. In northern Wisconsin, two Taylor County farms are currently in quarantine after recent outbreaks have killed 5,500 mink. Animals are not allowed in or out of the farm, said Kevin Hoffman, the public information officer for the Wisconsin Division of Animal Health.
Hoffman said the outbreaks are under control. His department is helping farms compost mink bodies and there are currently no conversations in the state about mass culling.
However, “we are definitely concerned,” Hoffman said, adding that it is recommended that farmers interact with minks as they would humans during a pandemic: wear appropriate PPE and keep their distance.
There is also some concern that a mutated form of the virus, administered to humans by minks, may make it more difficult to implement an effective vaccine.
“There is still a debate as to whether this is a major change, and there is no clear answer on that,” Weese said.
This is why both Weese and Runstadler say more study is needed to understand Covid-19 in mink.
“I’m afraid we’re not doing enough to monitor that situation to make sure this virus doesn’t spread to animal populations,” Runstadler said. “We should identify the interfaces where humans and animals are in close contact and frequent enough for the virus to spread, and do surveillance.”
In fur farms, scientists have seen Covid-19 transfer from mink to cats via mink manure and are concerned about what would happen if it entered wild animal populations.
“The other area to worry about is that this virus leaks into an animal host that becomes a regional or local reservoir for viral infections,” Runstadler said.
Zombie minks
The decision to cull the minks was drastic.
“The easiest way to get rid of a problem is to get rid of the problem,” Weese said, “but that’s not always the best way.”
Part of the problem, he explained, is that we don’t know the effects of diffusion. Had the outbreak farms been isolated, it is not known whether the virus would circulate through all minks and eventually become extinct.
“We want to keep this a human virus,” Weese said. Killing is often the answer when animal prevalence data is inconclusive. “When you have a disease that is killing a lot of people, there is less willingness to be relaxed with the animal side,” he said. Also, people don’t have the close attachment to minks that dogs might. If the animal is not a common pet or an endangered zoo animal, there is less indignation when it is killed.
But Denmark’s decision was not without its detractors. The outrage sparked in Denmark after images and videos of unsuccessful killings and mass mink graves circulated, and farmers have spoken of the difficulties this would cause them.
“We have 65,000 mink. They will all be culled next week,” Danish mink farmer Martin From told the BBC in November. “This will end our business.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen apologized for the killing, tearing apart as he called a “deplorable mistake” and admitting that the government did not have the legal jurisdiction to kill so many animals.
The news of “zombie minks” being pushed up from their shallow graves and rapidly built by the gas created by their decaying bodies only fueled the anger.
The Danish government wants to unearth some of the mink culled from mass graves.
For animal rights groups, the debacle illustrates why fur farming should be eliminated.
“With or without culling, the animals on these farms would still be violently killed at some point,” said Ashley Byrne, associate director of PETA. “These Covid-19 outbreaks and the gruesome circumstances that have accompanied them in the mink industry are just further proof that the fur industry must be over.”
Byrne called farms a “recipe for disaster” in a pandemic, stressing even fur farms putting humans at risk.
But Marc Kaufman, a fur trader in New York City who sells a lot of mink furs, said there is no reason for his industry to worry about epidemics.
“The water goes all up,” he said. “With furs, if one place is not made, another place is made. The demand is there and the need for the product is there. If Copenhagen doesn’t grow skins, Russia will. If Russia doesn’t, China will. In any case, there will be an offer because there is demand. “
Kaufman, whose family has been in the business since 1870, said his shop is busier this year than last, and customers aren’t talking about the minks receiving Covid-19.
“They put the cows down when they have cow disease, they put the chickens down when they have salmonella, this isn’t the first time animals have been killed for sickness purposes. Things happen. “He said.” When it’s cold, people need fur. “
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