Denmark's Food Minister Mogens Jensen said that the emergency decision to destroy all minks bred in the country due to the new type of Covid-19 detected in them was wrong.
The minister made such a statement during a broadcast on the TV2 channel.
"We were wrong," he said. According to the official, there was no legal basis for the demand to kill all animals.
"I take responsibility for what is happening in my ministry. Otherwise, it can't be," said Jensen. He also added that mink breeding in the country in the context of a pandemic is associated with high risk.
The head of the Danish government, Mette Frederiksen, also officially admitted that the decision to destroy all minks was a mistake.
Jensen said that the country's leadership did not have sufficient legal rights to demand that zookeepers destroy animals, especially healthy ones. On behalf of the Danish government, letters have already been sent to the owners of animal farms that the authorities did not demand, but recommended to destroy the mink.
"The government has decided that this is an emergency situation. Therefore, we concluded that it is impossible to wait for the adoption of a new law," she said.
According to her, a draft law that will allow such decisions to be made is currently being submitted to the parliament. The Prime Minister of the country said that the government still believes that all minks should be exterminated, but at the moment the slaughter has been suspended.
As a reminder, researchers believe that the coronavirus mutated in mink organisms can cause a new pandemic for which people are not ready.
