Denmark: Goodbye to mink

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Can Denmark's mink industry rise again? Denmark was the world's top producer of mink for the luxury market. Last year a coronavirus variant was found in the animals, and transmitted to people. There was a fear the variant - Cluster 5 - might interfere with the efficacy of any vaccine developed for humans. So in November, the Danish government ordered a cull of all 17 million farmed mink. But questions have continued to be asked about the decision to effectively end production. Was it driven by an anti-fur, political agenda? Was the science reliable? For Assignment Linda Pressly and Danish journalist, Rikke Bolander, meet some of those with skin in the game. What are the chances of a revival of Denmark's mink business?

Producers/presenters: Linda Pressly and Rikke Bolander Editor, Bridget Harney

(Image: A mink in a cage on a Danish fur farm. Credit: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Great you've chosen to download this podcast from assignment on the BBC World Service.
0:05.0	Over the last year, COVID's changed and shaped our world in so many ways.
0:10.0	And in and amongst all the human suffering we've seen, there came news from Denmark about the spread of the virus to animals, in this case farmed mink.
0:19.0	So let me introduce you to Rea Bolander, a Danish journalist who's followed this story from the start.
0:25.0	So I live in Mink country in Denmark, out west where most Mink farms were located.
0:31.1	The news that all animals would be called, we're talking millions, came as a shock.
0:35.0	I don't think anyone knew what a huge task it would be.
0:39.0	Since November, it's been all over Danish news, and a few images have stuck with me.
0:44.6	One is of a bulldozer lifting bucket after bucket of dead mink into containers.
0:50.1	Their slim bodies and silky skin makes it look almost liquid.
0:53.4	Another one is of dozens of mink carcasses.
0:56.8	Some run over, dropped on the motorway.
0:59.0	See, the load wasn't properly secured.
1:01.4	The mink story is still very present in Denmark as you'll hear now
1:05.2	in assignments. This is a assignment from Denmark on the BBC World Service.
1:14.0	This is a farm here.
1:16.0	It's like a wooden construction.
1:19.0	Yes.
1:20.0	And then you have how many cages?
1:22.8	There's about 5,000 caves.
1:24.8	And how many animals lived in each cage?
1:26.8	Two, we can make 10,000 puppies every year.
	...

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