Spain to Cull nearly 100,000 Mink with Coronavirus

Nearly 100,000 mink will be culled at a farm in eastern Spain after it was discovered most of the animals there had been infected with coronavirus.

THE farm in the village of La Puebla de Valverde in the Aragon region, 125 miles east of Madrid, came to the attention of the authorities after the wife of one of its workers tested positive in May. Joaquin Olona, head of the Aragon agriculture department, said on Thursday that seven farm workers had subsequently tested positive, including the woman’s husband.

Health authorities have now ordered the culling of all 93,000 mink to prevent them from spreading the virus to more humans. It was only a few weeks ago authorities had initially ordered that the animals should be isolated. But after several rounds of testing they have decided the mink, which are farmed for their fur, should be culled, as many as 80 per cent of a sample of the animals tested positive.

The management of Secapiel, the company that runs the region’s only mink farm, was not immediately available for comment. Authorities in Madrid said the firm will receive financial compensation for the culling. Cases of mink with coronavirus were also identified in Denmark, the world’s largest producer, and the Netherlands, although the animals did not show any symptoms, hundreds of thousands were culled to prevent farmers becoming infected.