A video that circulated heavily on social media last week, shows how the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration's employees fail in their attempt to kill minks. Subsequently, they try to fix this by killing the minks with incorrect and brutal methods. The result is nothing less than animal cruelty. Eurogroup for Animals member Dyrenes Beskyttelse condemns the methods used, as they are in violation of the Animal Welfare Act, and has therefore reported the case to the police. Yvonne Johansen, head of animal welfare at Dyrenes Beskyttelse, says: "The scenes we are witnessing here are completely unacceptable. It's heart-breaking, and it simply cannot happen. The Animal Welfare Act states that anyone who wants to kill an animal must ensure that the animal is killed as quickly and as painlessly as possible. That's not what I see here. I am deeply shaken”. She also emphasizes that despite the many killings that need to happen in Denmark now in a short time, consideration for the individual animal must never step into the background. “To the individual animal, it does not matter whether it is killed by corona or to become a fur coat. But it does matter how it happens, even when authorities are occupied with reaching the goal of the killings.”

The minks are killed by gassing, just as they normally would have been if the animals had been furred. But with the way this method works, it takes time to kill the minks and this cannot be rushed, Dyrenes Beskyttelse points out. "If you hurry through the process, you end up with mink that are not dead, as we see in the pictures. The mink is an animal that naturally lives in and by water; it even has webbed feet. This also means that it is really good at holding its breath. Therefore, killing minks by gassing them is already problematic, and it only becomes more disconcerting by rushing the process” says Yvonne Johansen.

Since the circulation of the video, Dyrenes Beskyttelse received many inquiries from concerned citizens who also reported the video to the police. Dyrenes Beskyttelse is now contacting the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration to ensure that the rules on humane killing are complied with.