Mink culling to continue despite questions over process
The culling of millions of minks is to continue today under the auspices of the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, despite a number of questions being raised on Monday over the process.
Prominent amongst these was reports in a number of Danish media that the government does not actually have any legal framework to enforce the culling – in other words, there’s not actually anything in the law that allows for the current circumstances. Work is underway at parliament to push through an emergency law enabling the culling of all mink, DR reports.
That comes as concerns were raised over the way the animals are being culled. The Danish Agriculture and Food Council, an interest organisation for the agricultural sector, said authorities lacked expertise for the task and that animals were not being culled humanely, new wire Ritzau reported.
Meanwhile, the BBC reported yesterday that, after Danish infectious disease agency SSI released details of the genome of the mutated coronavirus from mink, an expert in the Netherlands said the same mutation had already been detected there, but had not been passed to humans. Danish authorities have been criticised for not releasing the genetic information earlier.
Denmark is culling every single one of its fur farm mink, has locked down much of the North Jutland region and is mass testing 280,000 residents out of concerns the mutation could reduce the efficacy of a future Covid-19 vaccine.
PM Mette Frederiksen back in parliament for questions session
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is likely to face questions over a number of the above issues today, as her regular prime minister’s questions session returns. It was cancelled last week after Frederiksen was forced to isolate and take a Covid-19 test, which later returned negative.
Brexit: how it could affect Danes and Brits in Denmark
Yesterday, we published a feature on Danish fishermen who are hoping for a trade deal between the UK and the EU, because their livelihoods depend largely on catches in British waters.
For British nationals who live in the UK, it is important to know how the end of the transitional agreement on December 31st this year affects their status as residents. Denmark has provisions in place and has been in contact with UK nationals registered as residents in Denmark to outline this. We’ll publish an article later today with this fully-updated information.
Mortensaften
It’s November 10th, and that means many Danes will be tucking into roast duck or goose this evening as they celebrate Mortensaften.
The tradition is named after St. Morten, who, according to legend, hid in a goose pen to avoid being made a bishop. The noisy geese gave away his position and he took revenge by eating them annually, the story goes.
Source: thelocal.dk
