Even before mink became associated with coronavirus mutations, the industry was facing a bleak future. Global mink production has dropped to about 45 million pelts, almost half the all-time high of 87 million in 2014, according to Fur Europe, a lobby group for the industry in Brussels.
A Perfect Storm
The organization has defended the industry, and says fur trade has played “no significant role” in spreading the disease and that mink farmers have increased screening since the pandemic began in the spring. It argues that there’s still room in the world for fur.
“The fundamental demand for natural fur is strong,” Fur Europe said in a statement last week. It says the key is renewable products, rather than “today’s ‘buy and throw away’ culture.”
The fur industry is well versed in battling negative campaigns and is gearing up for another fight. But the science may be hard to ignore.
As Kare Molbak, Denmark’s top epidemiologist, put it in an interview with Politiken, “Mink are very easily infected by the coronavirus, and once it’s there, it spreads at the speed of light,” he said. “We’ve seen how that then spreads to humans. That makes it practically impossible to handle the spread during a pandemic.”
“It’s a perfect storm,” he said.
-With assistance from Agnieszka de Sousa, Niclas Rolander, Anatoly Medetsky, Flavia Rotondi, Alberto Brambilla, Thomas Gualtieri and Stepan Kravchenko.
This story was provided by Bloomberg News.