5 years ago

Sweden to Suspend Mink Farming in 2021 to Prevent Spread of Covid-19

Sweden is the latest nation to stop mink farming in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. This contrasts sharply with news that Utah, a large fur producer in the US, reportedly did not disclose that a farmworker had died of Covid-19.

According to Business Insider, Sweden will suspend mink farming in 2021 to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Under this new rule, mink that are bred for fur will not be reproduced, effectively suspending the practice for a year. Fur farming in the country has already declined significantly in the past few years.

Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, and Sara Amundson, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund wrote in their joint blog, “The pandemic has given us one more compelling reason why every nation that still allows fur farming needs to stop this cruelty for good.”

Thousands of animals and people have been put at risk on mink farms. A Utah Department of Health spokesperson, in an interview with Newsweek, seemed to minimize the current risk, saying, “At the time the person became ill, community spread had been increasing rapidly in the surrounding area. No additional deaths associated with mink farms have been reported. Currently, there is no evidence of mink-to-human transmission in the United States.”

This attitude is in stark contrast to many places in Europe that have moved to ban and curtail mink farming.

The first infections on mink fur farms were found in April and the Dutch government used the opportunity to take a stance against the industry and call for closing all farms by March 2021. Over a million mink were killed during the pandemic.