Denmark: Are killed minks poisoning drinking water now?

• Morten Stricker / Ritzau Scanpix / AP / dpa

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  Around 17 million mink had to be killed in Denmark.

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  The reason was the corona virus.

• imago images/Ritzau Scanpix

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  The coronavirus is said to have mutated in the fur animals.

• AFP

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  According to the government, the mink breeders should be compensated.

• keystone-sda.ch

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  Now it is feared that the buried carcasses will pollute the drinking water.

Several parties in the parliament in the Danish capital Copenhagen fear that the mink culled because of corona could secrete phosphorus and nitrogen during the decomposition process and thus contaminate drinking water or bathing water. That is why a political majority is now in favor of digging up the animals.

The Danish government is now taking a closer look at this possibility: the government, like anyone else, does not want the mink to cause pollution or other problems, the new food minister Rasmus Prehn told TV2 on Friday. Together with the other parliamentary parties and the responsible authorities, they want to analyze whether it is the right approach to dig up the minks and then burn them.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced on November 4th that all mink in Denmark should be killed because the coronavirus had mutated in the animals and had been transmitted to humans. One mutated virus variant in particular had been classified as worrying by the Danish health institute SSI because, according to the institute, it could have possible effects on future corona vaccines.

The mass slaughter of around 17 million fur animals has led to a major debate in Denmark, partly because there was no legal basis for them for a long time.

Millions of animals have already been slaughtered. Recordings of mass graves for the animals recently showed that a number of dead mink had returned to the surface due to gases expanding in the carcasses. (SDA)