Animal Extremists Exploit COVID Fears to Propose Ban on U.S. Mink Farming, says Fur Commission USA
Legislators using non-existent threat of COVID to propose ban on U.S. mink farming.
Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-3) has introduced a bill to amend the Lacey Act of 1981, HR 4310, to ban all “import, export, transport, sale, receipt, acquirement, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce of mink, and for other purposes.”
Citing the non-existent public health threat of COVID spreading from isolated rural mink farms to the general population, the bill advocates cite cherry-picked science from last summer that has been repeatedly debunked. Recent efforts to ban mink in Oregon and Washington by these same special interest groups, failed to convince lawmakers that there was any threat to public health.
Dr. John Easley DVM, one of the worlds leading authorities on mink health and disease states “The mink industry has worked in close collaboration with the USDA and CDC over the last 12 months to address mink susceptibility to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Now that the Zoetis vaccine is being utilized on the farms, we expect all US mink to be immunized within the next few weeks.”
Officials from the CDC have stated that “there is no evidence that mink are playing a significant role in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 to people.” And with over 750,000 US mink having received their first inoculations, any risk to humans has been greatly mitigated.
“The animal rights community, in their efforts to ban fur, wool, silk, goose down, meat and dairy, continue to spread unfounded end-of-the-world scenarios over mink and COVID. Not a single mink has tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the US since early January, yet they continue to fabricate a dangerous health crisis. Hopefully, lawmakers will see through their agenda and focus on real problems facing our country” said Michael Whelan, executive Director of Fur Commission USA
The animals rights crowd continues to compare the COVID outbreaks in Europe to those few farms that suffered infections in the U.S. Denmark, which produced almost 10 times the number of mink than the US, had over 1,200 farms in a country about 1/2 the size of Maine. Ordering the killing of over 17 million animals, the Minister of Agriculture was forced to resign over that quasi-legal decision.
The U.S. conversely has approximately 100 farms spread out in rural areas across 16 northern states and successfully managed the limited outbreak that occurred last fall.
For more information on mink farm biosecurity and prevention measures, see;
(CDC One Health) People Working on Mink Farms: Prevent the Spread of COVID-19
(CDC One Health) Steps to Prevent COVID-19 on Mink Farms
(USDA) Response & Containment Guidelines; Farmed Mink and Farmed Mustelids with SARS-CoV-2
(FCUSA) Standard Guidelines for the Operation of Mink Farms in the United States