A spokesman for the Irish Ministry of Agriculture said on the 19th that Ireland is ready to slaughter and farm mink to prevent the emergence of COVID-19 variants carried by mink.
In a statement, the spokesman said that so far no positive results have been found in COVID-19 tests in mink groups in Ireland, but the Irish Ministry of Health believes that the continued breeding of mink means that “more (COVID-19) variants adapted to mink” may occur, and therefore recommends slaughtering domestically farmed mink to “minimize or eradicate this risk. .”
The spokesman said that the Ministry of Agriculture will continue to communicate with mink farmers to “consider the next step”.
AFP reported that there are three mink farms across Ireland, with a total of about 120,000 mink.
A fur trade association representing the three mink farms expressed dissatisfaction, saying that the Irish government “will close three safe, compliant and credible farms without scientific basis”.
The Danish government announced on the 4th of this month that a coronavirus variant found in Danish mink has infected 12 people, and Denmark will slaughter all farmed minks in the country.
The Danish Ministry of Health said on the 19th that no new cases of infection with the novel coronavirus variant have been found in Denmark since September 15, so the National Serum Institute concluded that the variant of the virus is “very likely to have been eradicated”.
