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Science

Denmark Plans To Cull 15 Million Minks After Coronavirus Mutation Spreads To Humans (nbcnews.com) 78

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
A Slashdot reader writes: Denmark plans to cull its entire population of roughly 15 million minks in farms after the animals spread a mutation of the coronavirus to humans. The country's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said at a press conference Wednesday that the mutated virus could spread to other countries and it "may pose a risk to the effectiveness of a future vaccine." "We have a great responsibility towards our own population, but with the mutation that has now been found, we have an even greater responsibility for the rest of the world as well," she said. The mutated virus was found in a dozen people who got infected by minks. Half of the 783 human Covid-19 cases in northern Denmark "are related to mink," Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said. Mike Ryan, the head of the emergencies program for the World Health Organization, has called for scientific investigations of the "complex, complex issue" of people outside of China infecting minks, which in turn transmitted the virus back to humans. Kare Molbak, a director at the research center Statens Serum Institut, said the worst-case scenario would be "a new pandemic, starting all over again out of Denmark." "That's why we have to take this extremely seriously," Molbak said. There are between 15 million and 17 million minks in Denmark, one of the world's main mink fur exporters. According to government estimates, culling the country's mink population could cost up to $785 million. National police head Thorkild Fogde urged that 'it should happen as soon as possible."
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Denmark Plans To Cull 15 Million Minks After Coronavirus Mutation Spreads To Humans More

Denmark Plans To Cull 15 Million Minks After Coronavirus Mutation Spreads To Humans

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  • 2020 (Score:1, Insightful)

    by olsmeister ( 1488789 )
    cannot get over fast enough.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Just because the year odometer flips over doesn't mean all your problems are going to just magically disappear.

      But hey, on the upside, at least they aren't calling for culling the 783 human COVID-19 cases (yet).

      • And hey, I forsee a LARGE volume of cheap mink jackets coming onto the market soon.

        I wonder if this'll be in time for Xmas for the girlfriend(s)?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      You can't even take satisfaction in say "I told you so," because so many people are still in denial.

      I used to work with state and federal public health agencies, and everybody expected something like this to come along sooner or later -- the only question was whether it would be a strain of flu, SARS, or some random viral hemorrhagic fever. But they had to be careful because the idea seemed so far fetched to people who didn't spend their time thinking about it. A deadly pandemic was a fantasy trope, like

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      2021 is going to be worse. Coronavirus will likely have its third wave at that point, people will get tired of it and demands to actually figure out who let the virus out will get real. As lockdown-caused poverty grows, more and more will demand heads on a pike for whoever let the virus out. Whoever gets elected in US is going to have a nation where half of the people genuinely believe them to be illegitimate, and this time, it's going to be more than hysterical propaganda BS as current election is showing

  • The mutation has a new symptom (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    A very nice fur.

  • If the mutated strain has already jumped to humans in serious numbers, isn't it too late?

    Or are they worried about infections from additional unknown or as-yet unmutated strains?

    • Contact tracing (Score:5, Funny)

      by Latent Heat ( 558884 ) on Thursday November 05, 2020 @02:45PM (#60688502)

      After pointing a remote-sensing thermometer at the mink, the mink is asked whether it has lost its sense of taste or small, whether it has travelled by air in the last 14 days and if it has a sore throat, cough or muscle aches.

      • Plus, unfortunately, a not-insignificant percentage of the mink population refuses to wear masks.

        • They also refuse to share their territory with other weasels. Even the otters think they are dicks.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dgatwood ( 11270 )

          Plus, unfortunately, a not-insignificant percentage of the mink population refuses to wear masks.

          That's why next year's fur trend will be raccoon.

    • I wonder if they have studied the new virus variant to see if it is more infectious and more/less deadly?

      If it were more infectious and less deadly, would that possibly be something you'd want to compete with the current strains out there?

      (Assuming of course it would give you enough immunity against the current one, which I would think it might since it mutated from it).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Zumbs ( 1241138 )
        They have studied it, and it appears to be similar in terms of infection and death rate. The main problem is that antibodies for the regular corona virus do not hamper this particular variant as well as other variants. This appears to be caused by variations in the crown spikes. These spikes are also targeted by at least some of the vaccines in development, and the Danish authorities fear that the variations will cause the vaccines to have significantly lower efficiency against the new variant.

        • They have studied it, and it appears to be similar in terms of infection and death rate. The main problem is that antibodies for the regular corona virus do not hamper this particular variant as well as other variants. This appears to be caused by variations in the crown spikes. These spikes are also targeted by at least some of the vaccines in development, and the Danish authorities fear that the variations will cause the vaccines to have significantly lower efficiency against the new variant.

          ... They think that's the case. Virology is super complicated and very difficult to ascertain anything about the virus, at least not in a very short time frame. But that's based on a very basic understanding of teh virus and only a slightly greater understanding of it's comparison, the original COVID.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Zumbs ( 1241138 )
      They had 12 known cases of the mutated variant at 18:30 CET, almost all of which are in the quarantined area: Two were close to the quarantined area and a single one a few 100 km away. So, they are hoping to be able to contain it, or at least significantly slow its spread.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      If the mutated strain has already jumped to humans in serious numbers, isn't it too late?

      Or are they worried about infections from additional unknown or as-yet unmutated strains?

      I don't think in serious numbers, it's small enough that it can be contained by forcing said humans to isolate.

      The minks though, being infected, can be a source of endless mutations of the virus so even though it won't necessarily infect humans, it offers lots of opportunities for mutations to try.and reinfect humans. Giving the liv

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      The worry is the same we have for Spanish flu. That virus that is viable to cause epidemics and pandemics in humans will become endemic in animals, and jump to humans years, decades and even centuries after the initial pandemic is over.

      Most people forget that Spanish flu is endemic is domesticated pigs to this day, and is the reason why the latest outbreak of that virus type was called "Swine flu". The main reason why those aren't nearly as lethal as they were back in late 1910s is because that virus varian

  • Wait, I have seen this movie before. (Score:5, Funny)

    by doubledown00 ( 2767069 ) on Thursday November 05, 2020 @02:47PM (#60688516)

    Starts with a little blonde haired girl and her special mink friend. The authorities come to her farm to kill them all, and she hides the mink. To ensure safety she gives it to a sympathetic foreigner (we'll just say they're Brazillian) who takes it all over Europe and finally decides to release the mink into the wild. But, plot twist! It bites her before she does. etc etc etc.

    3 out of 5 stars. I hope the head of the international but still ethnically diverse response team looks like a younger version of Al Pachino.

  • For rich people.

  • Iam against the whole animal fur industry but killing them all makes me sad. Also they should be useful as a model organism for sars-cov2 research. Would make more sense to test vaccines and other things on them then to just kill them. And about the mutation thing. There are many animal species in nature, virus transmission back and forth between them and humans is not going to be entirely avoidable. To stop this virus, test trace isolate, vaccinate will work. And just to be clear i mean test 100% of the wo
    • The question is, how many does the industry normally kill each year.

      Is 15 million within an order of magnitude to the regular numbers? Seems to me, based on cursory research, that these things reach full size in under a year, and if they are being harvested for their fur, then thats going to be the normal life expectancy in the industry if I ran it.

      None of them would be alive a year from now anyways, yes?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jlar ( 584848 )

        Yes, the yearly production is around that. But 20% of the population is normally kept for breeding. They will also be culled (although there has been some talk of keeping tiny stock of animals in order to be able to restart the industry). So in practice this industry will be gone in Denmark at least for a number of years to come (and my guess is that it will be entirely outlawed in Denmark in a few years now that its economic significance has been removed).

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Zumbs ( 1241138 )

      Have you seen how the mink live in the mink farms? Small cages and close quarters. It must be a horrible life, especially for a predator.

      Regarding the mutation thing, the problem is that the mink live in small cages, very close to each other. If one mink in a farm gets infected with something like corona virus, the disease will quickly spread and infect all animals in the same room. Furthermore, jumping from between animal species causes significant evolutionary pressure on a virus, causing it to mutate fa

      • Have you seen how the mink live in the mink farms? Small cages and close quarters. It must be a horrible life, especially for a predator.

        Thats a reason to improve their condition not to kill them IMHO, or do you think its justified because its too hard to find a better place for the animals to live? And id like to be very clear here i do NOT suggest they should be kept for killing them later for their fur. I do strongly oppose killing animals for fur in 2020, that was ok in the stone age when we needed the fur for our survival we do not need to kill animals for that anymore

        Regarding the mutation thing, the problem is that the mink live in small cages, very close to each other. If one mink in a farm gets infected with something like corona virus, the disease will quickly spread and infect all animals in the same room. Furthermore, jumping from between animal species causes significant evolutionary pressure on a virus, causing it to mutate faster, and when it is also able to infect 1000s of animals in a short time, things can move very fast. Just to get an idea of the scale, there are 15-17 million mink spread over approximately 1100 mink farms in Denmark (IIRC).

        You mean like bats in a cave ? or if you look at influenza, pigs and

  • No need to kill the animals. This is something we'll have to live with. Besides, we're turning the corner. Cases will definitely be going down. It's totally contained.

    • They're raised to be killed and all life dies to change into something else, so why precisely is early termination (and likely a reduced fur industry) a problem?

      • why precisely is early termination ... a problem?

        Imagine the topic we were discussing was your life.

        If the answer is "I'm a human", fine that's an argument. Just want to make it clear what we are saying here.

      • They're raised to be killed and all life dies to change into something else, so why precisely is early termination (and likely a reduced fur industry) a problem?

        Dunno. You work in the fur industry? I'll bet those that do have a differing opinion about severely changing or terminating their way of life.

        Reduced fur industry? Sounds more like decimated.

    • You are ignorant of the facts of the case.
      Google and you will see why they are being culled early.

    • To prevent viral reassortment.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Misagon ( 1135 )

      In this political climate, I can't be sure if you're sarcastic, serious or lying because you have an agenda ...

  • Sounds like a good excuse to celebrate Weasel Stomping Day.
    • Are you going to wear your covid-rated galoshes, raincoat, and face mask? Or will you be touting a body condom?

  • They are culling the entire population of minks on the mink farms, involving the military and police to help. There's also a proposal in their legislature to ban mink farming entirely which is very quickly gathering momentum.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Well this is the problem with intensive farming or eating exotic wildlife in general and it happens time and time again, CJD from intensive farming in Britain's cows, Ebola and AIDS from eating bush meat in Africa, SARS from Asian chicken farming, Swine flu from Mexican pig farming, and now this new strain from Mink.

      Now don't get me wrong, I'm not the sort of person to start preaching veganism at this point (though it can help), I'm not vegan or vegetarian myself, I like some meat too much. It does however

  • The EU should collectively use this to set a precedent and ban fur-farming.
    They won't.

  • Plural of mink is mink. See also sheep, deer and sometimes dolphin.

  • And stop fucking farming animals for fur (Score:3)

    by Tough Love ( 215404 ) on Thursday November 05, 2020 @04:08PM (#60688848)

    And stop fucking farming animals for fur. What's wrong with you?

  • The Jedis are going to feel this one.

  • I can finally look rich and famous in my Mink coat. Hehe /sc

  • For them this is practically an act of genocide along the levels of WW2 Germany. I almost feel bad for the Peta folks... almost. This is just one of those things were we have to do what we have to do.

  • Denmark Plans To Cull 15 Million Minks ... found in a dozen people

    Wait, won't we have to cull them, too?

    Half of the 783 human Covid-19 cases in northern Denmark "are related to mink,"

    Well never mind just a dozen, then. And it's odd, so you'll have to round up -- so who's going to be the "lucky" one? Who wants some Trident gum? [youtube.com]


    And actually, if it's not the minks, it'll just be something else. Welcome to "not at the top" of the food chain; there's a new kid in town -- and he's bringing his relatives.

  • Humuns spread the virus too.... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Should we cull them as well?

  • Pigs (Score:3)

    by Misagon ( 1135 ) on Thursday November 05, 2020 @06:23PM (#60689420)

    IMHO, Denmark should also cull all pigs that are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Which is the norm on Danish pig farms.
    But noooo.

  • This is what a country does when it takes actual shared responsibility for a potential problem.

    China, please take note.

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