A worker at a fur farm in the Netherlands is suspected of contracting COVID-19 from an infected mink, according to Dutch authorities.
One staff member had a virus that showed similarities to the virus found in one of the mink at the farm.
“Based on this comparison and the position of that form of the virus in the family tree,” a statement from the Dutch government reads, “the researchers concluded that it is likely that one staff member at an infected farm has been infected by mink.”
At least three Dutch farms have coronavirus-infected mink living on-site, according to Lisa Gaster of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.
Animals in other countries have also tested positive for the virus, including domestic dogs and cats, tigers, and lions. It is still unclear how coronavirus will interact across certain species.
“The take-home message now,” virologist and veterinarian Brian Bird told National Geographic, “is we are still learning a lot about COVID-19, this coronavirus, and the animals it can infect.”
While researchers scramble to learn more about how coronavirus spreads across species, fur farms in the Netherlands are slowly being phased out, with all facilities required to close by 2024. Changes like this, however, may not come soon enough to avoid another pandemic, and the global fur trade is active in other parts of the world — including China, where officials are considering allowing fur farms to circumvent a newly-imposed ban on the wildlife trade — with no guaranteed end in sight.
If you haven’t yet, sign Lady Freethinker’s petition urging the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture to maintain its commitment to animal welfare and human health and not reclassify minks, raccoon dogs and foxes from “wildlife” to “livestock.”
SIGN: Stop China from Reclassifying Wild Animals to Keep Farming Them for Fur
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Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person. Hope it infects them all and kills them.
Another poor innocent animal blamed for something that was invented by humans. It never ends.
As with most farms animals in the modern “farming industry” most anywhere in the world, mink fare no better than swine, cattle, horses, or chickens. Announcements like this are pleasing when they show such obvious payback from animals to humans for our treatment of them.
What happened to felony charges for animal abuse? Why bother with all these petitions when none of them go to jail.
because we have to make an effort in order to get good results barbara strugala
We dont Quit
Maybe nature is fighting back against man’s inhumane treatment of animals. Long may it continue!
All animals are creatures of “GOD”,and they are not here to be abused or and treated so inhumanely. Cherish what GOD has given us. Learn from this pandemic; this is no surprise.
Fur farming is repugnant. It shows the true evil in mankind.
So much the better. The Chinese should close their fur farms and release the animals. This is the only humane thing to do.
O homem só será feliz,quando tiver piedade de todos os seres da criação divina
That’s happening in my country, despite resistance of liberal and christian parties (many fur-farm owners are…Christians) mink-fur farm wil close in 2024, they should close them right away! The Netherlands,that small country 230 times smaller than the states,20 times less people than the states,ranked 2 on the world agricultural export rankinglist,only 50% less export than the states….therefore we have problems like with the Covid-virus. Most Covid contaminations and deaths? In those areas with a high concentration of big-animalconcentrationcamps.The lungs of people living there are already weakend because of the fine and ultra fine dust emissions of those animal-concentrationcamps.My uncle who had heart surgery in 2006 died in 2008 after he and my aunt made a trip on their bikes in such an area.Our government keeped dangers under the cap,there was a goat illness and people who were pregnant and had heartsurgery should keep far away from those areas.(American tourists who had heartsurgery and were pregnant were told to keep away from those areas!!! and we who live there weren’t) People died and others survived but got a life sentence thanks to our filthy government….it’s a disgrace.
If the worker wasn’t involved in the fur industry they wouldn’t have contracted the disease from the poor mink. These diseases are prevalent in wildlife. We need to just let them be.
I quite agree they should leave these minks alone I would never wear anythink
that is made of real fur not even fax fur as I am told it comes from China and is dog fur what evil people
I am glad they caught covid serve them right!!
Sorry that you contracted covid but if you did not trap these animals and skin them
You would not have got this virus.
A lot of wild animals carry all sorts of these sort of thing so leave wild animals in the wild
stop trapping them let these animals live in peace!!
we all need to stop killing all Gids creations and respect their lifes.thats why we have all these deseases .because we wat and kill all animals ,We weren’t made to eat meat,only God Jehovah permitted
after the deluge in Noah’s days.