25th Dutch mink farm infected with SARS-CoV-2

Mink at a fur farm in Westerbeek tested positive for the coronavirus, the government announced on Friday. The virus was found when mink pups were tested before transport. All animals on the farm, including the 1,100 breeding mink, will be culled.

The coronavirus has now been found at a total of 25 mink farms, including at a farm in Ledeacker earlier this week. The animals at the other 24 farms have already been killed. Responsible Ministers Hugo de Jonge of Public Health and Carola Schouten of Agriculture decided that coronavirus infected animals have to be culled because there have been cases of mink-to-human transmission.

The Ministers also took other precautionary measures, including a nationwide ban on transporting mink. But for animal welfare reasons, they decided to allow the movement of growing mink pups to vacant locations under strict conditions. One of these conditions is that the pups be tested for the coronavirus before transport.