Denmark’s Covid mass mink cull had no legal justification, says report

An official inquiry into Europe's first compulsory farm sector shutdown, which has cost taxpayers billions in compensation to farmers, has found that the Danes lacked legal justification and made misleading statements.

In November 2020, the world's largest mink producer,Denmark, announced it would kill its entire population of 15 million animals because of fears that a Covid-19 mutations could endanger future vaccines.

There were a number of problems with the plan, including the risk of pollution from buried carcasses and the possibility of a new variant of the virus causing humans to get sick.

The prime minister of the Danes admitted that she was unaware that it was illegal.

Although there had been reports of an outbreak of Covid in Europe and North America, the only country that had ordered a wholesale slaughter wasDenmark.

The State Serum Institute said earlier this year that Cluster 5 was no longer alive. In the worst case scenario, Cluster 5 could cause a second Pandemic and the country could become the new Wuhan according to the SSI. It's possible that vaccines under development won't be effective.

The government of the Danes panicked, according to the farmer. We lost everything from one day to the next.

It was close to the skinning season, so we could have reduced the population and just kept a small population for the next year. They didn't pay attention to the normal processes of consulting with industry.

There is a decision to be made next year on whether or not to allow mink breeding to resume.

Despite the inquiry's findings, a ban was the right decision, according to the CEO of Animal ProtectionDenmark. She said it was a risk to public health and harmful to the environment. She said the public should get used to the benefits of the ban becoming permanent.

The latest government figures show that only 15 farmers would take a compensation package that would allow them to continue fur farming if the ban is lifted.

The government's compensation for the Danes is expected to be between 2 and 8 billion dollars. They didn't know how big an industry we had in the country. They didn't know the decision would cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

The commission found that the statements made by the government at the press conference were grossly misleading.

It was clear that there was no legal basis to destroy all of the animals in the country.

The farmers turned their back on the animals.

The commission criticized the chief of the national police for helping to enforce the order when he knew it was against the law. There was a lot of fear about the Covid outbreak and it was not clear how it was spreading between the farms. The main concern was that. Even if the ban is lifted, Mller doesn't think the sector will return to the country. The equipment sector and the breeding stock are gone. It would be very difficult for 15 farmers to restart farming after taking compensation. Mark Oaten is the CEO of the International Fur Federation. He said that the whole episode has been terrible for the farmers and their animals. If you sign up for the Animals Farmed monthly update, you'll get a rundown of the biggest farming and food stories around the world. Send your stories and thoughts to animalsfarmed@theguardian.