Farmed mink in Ireland to be culled over Covid concerns

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Wildlife

Farmed mink in Ireland to be culled over Covid concerns

23 November 2020
News
The Irish government ordered that the animals be culled, despite tests carried out on the country’s mink herd not detecting any positive results of the virus to date. The Department of Health recommended the animals should be culled to minimise any risk of the virus spreading.

“The Department of Health has indicated that the continued farming of mink represents an ongoing risk of additional mink-adapted Sars-CoV-2 variants emerging and, therefore, it has recommended that farmed mink in Ireland should be culled to minimise or eliminate this risk.”

The closure of the mink farms is one of the promises contained in the coalition government’s Programme for Government.

Rise TD Paul Murphy said the closure of mink farms was well overdue and that it should be accompanied by a permanent ban on fur farming.

“The government has been promising for a long time now to shut these fur farms,” he said.

“This is urgent now that we see an outbreak of Covid among mink across the globe, and the new mutant Covid strain among mink in Denmark.

“Mink fur farms are an ideal breeding ground for this virus, and the Danish health authorities have warned mutations of the virus among mink could undermine the effectiveness of future vaccines too.

“Fur farming is an extremely cruel and outdated practice, and now we see the major health risks it poses too.”