Denmark is set to cull up to 17m mink, following evidence that a mutated form of the coronavirus jumped from humans to mink and back again. There are concerns that the mutated virus could be resistant to potential vaccines.
American mink are a semi-aquatic mammal, related to otters, ferrets, and weasels.
The family that these animals belong to – the mustelids – seems to be more susceptible to Covid-19 than other animals.
Denmark is the world’s leading farmer of mink, which are prized for their fur. However, this mass culling will destroy the industry, possibly permanently.
The Danish government is offering incentives to mink farmers to kill the animals and the army and police have been pulled in to assist in the killing of the mink.
Danish authorities first realised in June that the mutated virus had jumped back to humans after initially having been passed to mink by humans. The new mutated version binds to human cells more strongly than other types of the virus, which means potential vaccines will be less effective.
Earlier this year the Netherlands undertook a similar cull of its mink population, after a similar species jump in the virus had been identified.
Although some Danish scientists have warned that this could result in a new epicentre for the epidemic emerging in Denmark, others have said that the new mutation does not seem to be more dangerous to humans.
Image by Jan den Ouden from Pixabay