What the mink COVID-19 outbreaks taught us about pandemics
Spread of the coronavirus has exposed troubling problems at fur farms and how we respond to outbreaks there.
Denmark killed all its farmed mink last year, millions of animals, after a variant form of the novel coronavirus was detected circulating between mink and humans. New research has shown that many mink may be asymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2.Photograph by Mads Claus Rasmusse, Ritzau Scanpix, AFP, Getty Images
ByDina Fine Maron
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Anne Sofie Hammer was searching for sick mink. The Danish government had hired the University of Copenhagen veterinary pathologist in June 2020 to investigate if farmers were infecting mink with the novel coronavirus. This meant going from farm to farm, looking for animals that weren’t eating or had a cough and taking blood samples and mouth swabs.
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The cold weather is finally starting to move on from the Panhandle and the rest of the Lone Star state. We have seen some really horrible pictures from across the state of our friends, family, and neighbors without water or power or both with no timetable on restoration other than as soon as we can safely do so.
But what about pets? Often overlooked, our companions give us unconditional love and affection and ask for very little in return. The sad truth is, because they ask for little in return and cannot communicate effectively with us, when the weather or situations take a turn for the worse they can easily fly under the radar.
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