June 01, 2021 By Published on May 12, 2021 A bill before the Oregon Senate would phase out mink farming within the state in less than a year because of concerns that mink represent a SARS-CoV-2 threat to public and animal health. Oregon is one of nearly two dozen U.S. states with mink farming operations and one of the biggest producers of mink pelts, according to Fur Commission USA. SARS-CoV-2 infection has been confirmed in mink at one Oregon operation as well as at operations in Michigan, Utah, and Wisconsin. Preliminary findings indicate that farmed mink may have transmitted SARS-CoV-2 to farmworkers who were in close contact with the infected animals in Denmark and the Netherlands. Out of an abundance of caution, Denmark, the largest mink producer in the world, culled millions of mink after some animals appeared to have been infected by farmworkers in whom COVID-19 had been diagnosed.