Government Destroyed Animals Due To COVID-19, Danish Mink Farmers Demand 600 million Danish Krone In Compensation

Illustrative cerpelai. (Wikimedia Commons / Wojciech Uszak)

JAKARTA - Around 15 million mink cultivated in Denmark were destroyed by the authorities at the end of 2020, worried about mutations and the spread of COVID-19.

The owner of the mink fur farm is demanding compensation of 600 million Danish Krone, or approximately IDR 1,292,428,367,400 to the government, as further compensation for the late 2020 decision to destroy all mink fur stocks in the Scandinavian country to stop the transmission of COVID-19 to animals.

Mink breeders are unhappy with the compensation they have received, after all, mink in Denmark was culled in November-December last year, seeking redress from the state for skins they cannot sell.

According to the 2020 compensation agreement, the farmers receive 250 Danish Krone (IDR 538,511) per skin. However, this fall, the price rose to 323 Danish Krone (IDR 695,757). Thus, mink breeders say there is still a loss due to the difference.

"Animals culled last year in November will be sold in 2021. So you have to get 2021 prices", mink breeder Jens Jensen explained their stance to TV2, citing Sputnik News on November 23.

"My livelihood is closed. I am not allowed to produce leather anymore. So because it has to be fair. We have to get the right price, no more and no less than what we are entitled to", he added.

Compensation for crushed skin is only part of a wider remuneration package agreed by the Danish parliament following the extermination and subsequent shutdown of the country's entire mink industry last year.

The entire deal is worth about 19 billion Danish krone (IDR 40,926,898,301,000) which was partially paid for according to the Danish Food and Animal Administration, setting a record settlement for damages by the Danish Government.

Separately, spokesman for the liberal-conservative Party Venstre Erling Bonnesen, who participated in discussions on the compensation package, said the price had been calculated based on market information available at the time.

"So there is a retrospective rationalization here based on price trends and market trends. But this must be decided in court", he explained.

In a decision that continues to haunt the ruling Social Democratic Party, some 15 million minks were culled after the COVID-19 mutation was detected in animals in the fall of 2020. The culling was ordered, due to health authorities' concerns that such mutations could occur, rendering human vaccines ineffective.