No more mink
November 5, 2020 3:29 AM   Subscribe

Denmark announces cull of 15 million mink over Covid mutation fears Mink furs are a big part of the Danish economy, and the decrease in tax income + the expense of compensating the farmers is going tome a big blow to the budget. But it has to happen. The main point is that the virus is mutating fairly rapidly in mink, which may lead to the current line of vaccine research being ineffective, globally. Or in other words: a new strain of COVID-19 has developed, and we have to start over. The regions where the farms are located are ordered into total lockdown.

See also: NYTimes, and National Geographic.
Apart from the dangerous mutations, it is an issue that no-one knows how the virus is spreading between the farms. It might be seagulls, though this has not been confirmed. As I understand it, the authorities are still focusing on human transmission from farm to farm, but it is not normal for Danish workers to have two jobs. There is something underlying here that I will post if it is uncovered.
posted by mumimor (45 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
Our family farm (no mink) is located in this area, and people have been calling me all morning. Right now, I am stranded in Copenhagen, and this time of the year, there isn't a lot to do on a farm, but I will need to figure out how to do some things at a distance.
posted by mumimor at 3:33 AM on November 5, 2020 [3 favorites]


Dutch mink farming is due to be phased out by 2024 but I think this whole situation is going to accelerate this, which I think is a good thing.

Coronavirus is killing the Dutch mink industry.
A million mink culled in Netherlands and Spain amid Covid-19 fur farming havoc.
posted by Pendragon at 3:48 AM on November 5, 2020 [8 favorites]


I’ve absolutely seen a seagull fly off with a mink, and there’s probably nteraction between caged and wild/released mink. Has there any consideration been made about whether there’s been deliberate transmission by fur-trade saboteurs? (I didn’t rtfa)
posted by J.R. Hartley at 4:25 AM on November 5, 2020


Here's a preliminary study of the mink mutations. It's in Danish so pull out the Google Translate if you're not mumimor (although I'm to understand even Danish people have trouble understanding one another).

There are spike mutations, there is a lower susceptibility in some previous COVID-19 patients, but there's also been some increase in susceptibility in other convalescent sera and mAb lines. Antibodies are randomly generated and have affinities towards particular sites on a protein. When those proteins change different antibodies can have different ways those affinities change since there's trillions of antibody varieties per person being cranked out per day. It's only natural that we'll see both increased and decreased susceptibility but I doubt we'll be starting from scratch.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 4:49 AM on November 5, 2020 [4 favorites]


(Here’s an alternate non-registration link for the National Geographic article.)

In the USA, 10,000 mink are dead in Covid-19 outbreaks at US fur farms after virus believed spread by humans, CNN, Cheri Mossburg & Brian Ries, October 9, 2020:
Thousands of mink have died at fur farms in Utah and Wisconsin after a series of coronavirus outbreaks.

In Utah, ranchers have lost at least 8,000 mink to Covid-19 among the animals known for their silky, luxurious pelts. The virus first appeared in the creatures in August, shortly after farmworkers fell ill in July, according to Dr. Dean Taylor, State Veterinarian of Utah. Initial research shows the virus was transmitted from humans to animals, and so far has not seen any cases of the opposite.
...
Mink, which are closely related to weasels, otter and ferrets, appear to suffer similar symptoms to humans. Difficulty breathing and crusting around the eyes are usually seen, but the virus progresses rapidly, and most infected mink are dead by the next day, according to Taylor.
It's unclear what makes mink such a susceptible species, while others appear to be unaffected....
See also U.S. mink industry in free fall as demand for fur plummets; Kitty Block, A Humane World; August 20, 2020.

More worrying is the possibility of COVID-19 transmission into wild animal populations: Could Mustelids spur COVID-19 into a panzootic?, DocWire News; September 10, 2020:
The ongoing pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has spilled over into humans from an animal reservoir. Notably, the virus is now spilling back into a variety of animal species.

It appears striking that American (Neovison vison) and European (Mustela vison) minks are the first intensively farmed animal to experience outbreaks. Neither of these have occurred in Asia or Africa but rather in Europe – namely Spain, Denmark, Netherlands and in the US, at a mink farm in Utah. Current evidence indicates that the virus was transmitted to the animals through infected human workers on the farm. At the time of writing, SARS-CoV-2 infection has not been documented in any other intensively farmed species, suggesting that mustelids may exhibit a higher susceptibility to the virus.

Studies have shown that domestic ferrets have an extremely low resistance to COVID-19 infection (Shi et al. 2020). Mustelids comprise approximately 60 different species (Kollas et al. 2015) and are widely distributed across a number of habitats, both aquatic (marine and freshwater), and terrestrial (prairies, steppes, tundra, forests). Several wild mustelids have become acclimated to urban areas – such as raccoons, otters and badgers, and some are raised in households as pets – such as ferrets. The latter are perhaps at greater risk of infection than their cousins inhabiting the wild, but it is the former that we should be most worried about.

If infection by SARS-CoV-2 spills into wild mustelids, these have the potential to become a permanent reservoir of infection for other animal species....
posted by cenoxo at 5:09 AM on November 5, 2020 [16 favorites]


I did not see this plot twist coming. Mink? Really 2020?
posted by medusa at 5:32 AM on November 5, 2020 [24 favorites]


Oh, hell. Now we’ll need to vaccinate the Trash Pandas? Really? Who’s signing up for that job?

But srsly... Thanks for the interesting and informative post .
posted by armoir from antproof case at 6:02 AM on November 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in fur.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:08 AM on November 5, 2020 [10 favorites]


Oh man raccoons would be bad.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:12 AM on November 5, 2020 [14 favorites]


Additional mink culls are mentioned in Some key facts about the mink industry in Europe, MarketScreener, Anthony Deutsch & Mike Collett-White, 11/05/2020, (along with some economic info):
  • The European Union is one of the world's main sources of fur clothing, led by Denmark, Finland, Italy, Poland, Greece and the Netherlands. Exports are worth hundreds of millions of euros annually, according to the UN Contrade Database.
  • Animal rights group Humane Society International - United Kingdom says China, Denmark and Poland are the largest mink producers globally, with 60 million killed annually for their fur.
posted by cenoxo at 6:20 AM on November 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


Poor little critters. I had no idea mink farming was even still that big. Or that raccoons were mustelids.
posted by emjaybee at 6:32 AM on November 5, 2020 [7 favorites]


My beloved 83 year old mother in-law just passed away last week. Before she died, she bequeathed her 1980s-era mink coat to one of her daughters. It really is a gorgeous coat, a thing of beauty. I'm sure it was expensive when it was purchased. But it's such a weird item to see in our present day—Chicago, 2020. It just seems like a relic out of time. My wife's sister is taking care of it, but it will likely stay carefully protected in a closet for the rest of its time on Earth. And it will be passed on to my niece—and so forth.

Who the hell wears a mink coat nowadays?
posted by SoberHighland at 6:32 AM on November 5, 2020 [8 favorites]


Oh, hell. Now we’ll need to vaccinate the Trash Pandas? Really? Who’s signing up for that job?

States: "You want to go to school, you gotta have both the rabies and the COVID vaccines."
Raccoon 4-year-olds: "#@%$!"

New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
posted by low_frequency_feline at 6:37 AM on November 5, 2020 [3 favorites]


Mink mother to mink child: “you put your coat on before you leave the house! Do you want to catch your death?”
posted by notoriety public at 6:41 AM on November 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


Oh man raccoons would be bad.

A reduction in their numbers would be useful, generally, given what diseases and parasites they already carry.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 6:52 AM on November 5, 2020


This is actually really worrying to me? Mustelids are everywhere in my ecosystem and I don't want to see them all die. Also, otters.

We've already done such a number on larger predator species in our woodlands. Let's not fuck it up any further!
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:15 AM on November 5, 2020 [14 favorites]


Metafilter: a reduction in their numbers would be useful, generally, given what diseases and parasites they already carry.
posted by notoriety public at 7:18 AM on November 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


>>Oh man raccoons would be bad.

>A reduction in their numbers would be useful, generally, given what diseases and parasites they already carry.


Hey, do you know who else carries a lot of diseases and parasites?
posted by Flock of Cynthiabirds at 7:21 AM on November 5, 2020 [16 favorites]


Humans: *gives small cute mammals a devastating plague that kills within hours*

Also humans: "ew, raccoons are gross"
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:50 AM on November 5, 2020 [13 favorites]


Point of order, raccoons are in their own family(the Procyonidae), and are not part of the Mustelidae. The mustelids and procyonids are both Carnivorans.

I don't know why they were brought up other than they are a wild mammal that has lots of contact with humans.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:09 AM on November 5, 2020 [13 favorites]


The Mink getting Covid thing has been in the news a few times here in Utah as it's a (not large but visible) industry.

My kids somehow become addicted for a short period to the Mink Man and his "new sport of Minkenry", and would run around pretending they were Mink attacking Muskrats (usually me). I'm very sorry so many beautiful Mink have died of Covid, but I'll be super ok with no more Mink farming. I've seen enough Mink Man videos to appreciate the Mink as an amazing little creature (I don't agree with a lot of things in the Mink Man videos - and we've stopped watching them as they not age appropriate for kids in some spots - but the Minks themselves are awesome)
posted by inflatablekiwi at 8:23 AM on November 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


(The average lifespan of a wild racoon is 18 months!)
posted by maxwelton at 8:32 AM on November 5, 2020


Raccoons?
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:39 AM on November 5, 2020


I heard this on the radio and I was honestly shocked that there are still huge mink farms around. Who wears mink in this day and age?
posted by GuyZero at 10:36 AM on November 5, 2020


#FurReallyIsMurder
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:37 AM on November 5, 2020 [3 favorites]


There are 5 million people in Denmark and more than 15 million mink? I had no idea. Nor could I have guessed the number of mink in my country to within two orders of magnitude. I don't remember seeing fur clothing in real life since spending time in eastern Russia more than fifteen years ago. I'm kind of surprised to learn the industry is still an industry, much less an important one in the countries mentioned.

I very rarely encounter otters. But, I'm going to stay the hell away from them from now on for their protection. Avoiding ferrets has always been my instinctive approach to meeting ferrets, so that won't be hard. And recommended social distancing is good advice for raccoons at all times, whether or not they're actually a likely carrier animal. (I adore raccoons. I've also seen the stitches in human hands that became too comfortable with raccoons.)

I feel bad for all the comedians struggling to create parody that seems more unlikely than the news this year. Here's hoping it's not pigeons next.
posted by eotvos at 10:40 AM on November 5, 2020 [5 favorites]


you can come for my fur. don't come for my down. brrrrr.
posted by j_curiouser at 10:42 AM on November 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


Who wears mink in this day and age?

Rich people?
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:43 AM on November 5, 2020


Who wears mink in this day and age?

I think most westerners don't wear as many fur coats in the way we think of a fur coat anymore -- big, long, fur on the outside, that Liz Taylor might wear with white diamonds and black evening gowns. But fur lined hoods on parkas are still hugely common, for example.

And then also, there's the Russian market.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:00 AM on November 5, 2020 [5 favorites]


Here's hoping it's not pigeons next.

Or squirrels.
posted by lathrop at 11:08 AM on November 5, 2020


Russians, many other Eastern Europeans and Chinese people wear furs.

I won't miss the mink farms, but a lot of people are going to loose their jobs.

Here's hoping it's not pigeons next.

There's a bird flu outbreak in Northern Germany...
posted by mumimor at 11:28 AM on November 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


We already knew that weasels were susceptible after the WH superspreader event, so I'm not surprised to hear this.
posted by aeshnid at 11:47 AM on November 5, 2020 [10 favorites]


Not that many people wear mink, but lots of people who would never wear fur use mink hair makeup brushes and mink false eyelashes.
posted by rockindata at 12:44 PM on November 5, 2020 [5 favorites]


“Every woman should have four pets in her life. A mink in her closet, a jaguar in her garage, a tiger in her bed, and a jackass who pays for everything.” - Paris Hilton
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 1:55 PM on November 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


It's worth noting too that the fur jacquilynne mentions isn't worn for status, it's because its effin cold in a lot of Eastern Europe and Russia and fur is warm. You might never even see it because when you wear fur for warmth you line clothes with it rather than use it as a decorative outer layer.
posted by Jilder at 3:12 PM on November 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


Who the hell wears a mink coat nowadays?

I certainly wouldn't wear real fur in public these days, although in the 70s and 80s there were a lot of nice second-hand ones about. I made a lovely throw from a moleskin coat I bought in a jumble sale. It seems a shame to waste them, since the animals are already long dead. My mother inherited her mother's nutria coat and used it to line a very posh Burberry raincoat she got in a charity shop, making an extremely luxurious winter coat that wasn't visibly fur.

Come to think of it, not only makeup brushes, but my best and most expensive watercolour brushes are "sable", which I suspect is actually mink.
posted by Fuchsoid at 4:42 PM on November 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


Sable brushes are, in fact, made of a different kind of weasel hair. There was a serious, multi-year shortage of Kolinsky sable paint brushes in North America from like 2013 until recently, because US customs seized the hair as illegal traffic in endangered species products. I don't know what changed-- possibly they got their paperwork in order or something. But you can definitely get them again. Personally, I prefer white taklon brushes as more durable and just as nice, but I am not a very good painter so take that with a grain of salt.

I don't think there should be large-scale animal farming for a lot of reasons, but this is one of them. Hunt your own furs or inherit them, fine, but as an industry, fur has a lot to answer for.
posted by blnkfrnk at 5:46 PM on November 5, 2020


I cry no tears for the fur industry.
posted by tiny frying pan at 6:44 AM on November 6, 2020 [2 favorites]




Article from Stat: Spread of mutated coronavirus in Danish mink ‘hits all the scary buttons,’ but fears may be overblown
posted by larrybob at 7:24 AM on November 6 [+] [!]


The mink-mutation has already spread to more than 100 humans, who can spread it on. I think our government is right to take this seriously. "We would rather go a step too far than take a step too little to combat Covid-19," Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said.
posted by mumimor at 12:18 PM on November 6, 2020 [1 favorite]


The European Union is one of the world's main sources of fur clothing, led by Denmark, Finland, Italy, Poland, Greece and the Netherlands. Exports are worth hundreds of millions of euros annually
Hundreds of millions sounds like a lot, but even if all that money were going to employ people, that's only thousands of jobs. In all of Europe. Letting this industry go is something we can manage.

...I say as I think that my niche industry probably only employs thousands of people world-wide.
posted by 3j0hn at 8:31 PM on November 6, 2020


Yeah, in proper cold winters where it doesn't go above -15 during the day (which we haven't had in Poland for a decade now, thank you global warming...) there's nothing like a long fur coat if you need to walk in the city or queue for public transport. Except fake furs are now so much better than real - a fifth of the weight, any colour you like, no stiff seams between skins, holding up just as well as the real thing to multi-decade wear without being in danger from clothes moths. There's really no justification for modern fur farming left, and I can't wait for it to go the way of the dodo.

(Sheepskin, on the other hand, is a byproduct of the meat industry and more defensible, not to mention bigger skins so less seams. The only real fur coat I own is a black sheepskin with fur on the inside, wonderfully warm and soft like butter. And second-hand, at least 30 years old, because they hold up like anything.)
posted by I claim sanctuary at 12:03 AM on November 7, 2020 [3 favorites]


it's because its effin cold in a lot of Eastern Europe and Russia and fur is warm.
I'm sympathetic to the idea. But, as someone who've spent 16 continuous hours outdoors at -70C and never owned real fur, I'm a bit skeptical. Synthetics are really good these days. If they're not cheaper, that's astonishing. (Though, cultural traditions have value. Especially when it comes to hunting rather than large-scale farming.)

But, also, the people who eat commercial chicken and bacon sandwiches and complain about fur seem a bit inconsistent to me. We treat billions of animals terribly in my country and have no shame in advertising the result on television and billboards. I'm not sure how fur is in any way different from meat. (To be clear, I also do eat animals, sometimes animals who've spent their whole lives in horrifying conditions. I'm not proud of that and try do it less. But, it gives me pause when criticizing the fur industry. How many chickens is equivalent to a mink?)
posted by eotvos at 7:50 AM on November 8, 2020 [4 favorites]


IMO, mink farming is even crueler than chicken and hog farming, because chickens and hogs actually like being close together (if not in any way as close as in those farms). Mink, not so much.
I have inherited a couple of fur coats and had a sheepskin coat I'd bought for myself which I loved, there is a special quality to wearing a fur in the cold. I wear leather boots. And I eat meat, though not factory farmed meat. We are not wealthy, so choosing not to eat factory farmed meat (or wear clothes that are made with unsustainable materials) means we have to cut a lot down on those things.
posted by mumimor at 11:29 AM on November 8, 2020 [2 favorites]


The dead Mink are re-emerging from mass graves. 2020 - because of course we need Covid infected zombie mink.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 4:42 PM on November 25, 2020


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