animal rights activists have been fighting for years to ban mink farms in the Netherlands. The Supreme court of the country decided in 2013 that the breeding of fur-bearing animals by the end of 2023 must stop. But now everything is much faster – due to the Coronavirus. On Monday of 19,000 Minks had to be culled on the orders of the competent ministries, because the Virus had been detected in two farms in Gemert, the center of the Dutch production in the province of North Brabant. It was already the twentieth Farm, on which animals had been infected.
Thomas Gutschker
Political correspondent for the European Union, Nato and the Benelux countries, based in Brussels.
F. A. Z.
While the authorities had only acted hesitant, have been killed in the past few weeks, now more than 600,000 animals. The Parliament decided at the end of June, that due to the Virus closed businesses are not allowed to open, and the entire breeding should be set to the end of the year. The government should compensate the total of 128 farms, which by 2018 will still be 4.5 million Minks were bred, financially. The Cabinet is now working on a scheme for entrepreneurs who close down their Farm voluntarily, and if she is not yet affected. The competent ministries banned the transportation of mink and ordered strict hygiene measures.
The first infections of fur-bearing animals with Sars-CoV-2 were found to be at the end of April in two Farms. The Minks had difficulty Breathing. It was said that the Virus had jumped from workers to you. The authorities came after an initial investigation in mid-may to the conclusion that the risk of Transmission from animals to humans is equal to zero. Then an exclusion zone was lifted around the farms again – what appears in retrospect as a fatal error. Since then, more and more companies are reported in the two places Gemert-Bakel and Laarbeek, where most of the producers are sitting, infections.
