Mink breeders are now given the opportunity to kill, clean and disinfect corona-infected herds themselves.
The killing of the more than one million corona-infected mink, which the government has decided to kill, is far too slow.
The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration now recognizes this.
For the same reason, mink breeders now have the opportunity to be responsible for the entire task of killing, cleaning and disinfecting herds that have been infected with covid-19.
Until now, the breeders have only had to help, while the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration’s own herd has killed the animals. But the authorities are currently killing only about 25,000 animals a day, and that is too little.
At present, 1.2 million infected mink are still to be killed, and at the same time the number of infected herds is increasing day by day .
In addition , the killings are urgent because the minks become sexually mature around 1 December, and then no more animals can sit in one cage at a time, as is the case in some cages right now.
– We are increasing the pace, and this is important – both to prevent the infection from mink spreading to society and to ensure animal welfare . When the minks become sexually mature , they can start biting each other, says Nikolas Kühn Hove, who is emergency manager at the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration .
Under normal circumstances, the minks are furred in November, and therefore there are usually no problems with several animals in the same cages.
The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration now hopes that it will be possible to kill 100,000 animals a day.
Relieved breeders
The new announcement from the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration brings relief to mink breeder Allan Kristensen from Nibe in North Jutland. His crew tested positive 10 days ago.
– I think it’s a good idea. Now we can knock the herds down as soon as we know if there is infection. That way, we can better stop the spread so that we do not get more infected colleagues, says the mink breeder, who has about 13,000 animals on his farm.
– At least I feel that my animals come from here in a proper way without too much hustle and bustle. I’m fine with that.
The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration started the killing of infected mink herds on 8 October at Gjøl northwest of Aalborg.
