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Mink look out from a pen on a farm near Naestved, Denmark on November 6. Photo: Ritzau Scanpix via AP

Coronavirus: culled mink rise from graves in Denmark after botched mass burial

  • Incident marks latest embarrassment for Danish government, which had ordered the animals killed after finding they could carry a mutated form of the virus
  • Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen offers tearful apology to mink farmers for mistakes made in handling of crisis

Millions of dead mink thrown into mass graves have resurfaced in Denmark, triggering a new wave of finger pointing over how the country is handling the crisis.

The animals, which were culled earlier this month after Denmark found a mutation of the coronavirus in mink that could spread to humans and hamper vaccine efforts, have since started to rot.

The gas in their bodies is now causing the mink to rise to the surface, fanning contamination fears.

The development marks the latest embarrassment for Denmark’s government, which was slammed by parliament for failing to consult the legislature before ordering farmers to cull their mink.

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The minister in charge has since been forced to resign, but Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen still faces questions about her handling of the case.

On Thursday, she offered a tearful apology to Denmark’s mink farmers for the mistakes made.

“I think there’s a reason to apologise for the process,” Frederiksen said, according to footage published by Danish media. “Mistakes were made.”

The list of errors, including alleged acts of cruelty due to the rushed nature of the cull, has even angered members of Frederiksen’s own Social Democrats.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reacts after a visit to an empty mink farm on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Hans Christian Osterby, a Social Democrat mayor for the city of Holstebro in western Denmark, said the way in which the mink were buried was “completely wrong”, in an interview with broadcaster TV2.

He also criticised the authorities for burying the animals in his municipality without first seeking consent.

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The graves were too shallow and the dead animals were left in places “where they shouldn’t be”, he said. “This decision has been made really, really fast and we as a municipality have not been involved at all.”

Frederik Waage, a law professor at the University of Southern Denmark, told Jyllands-Posten that the government may have strayed on the wrong side of the law by failing to strike an agreement with the relevant municipalities before burying the mink.

Denmark’s Environmental Protection Agency told the newspaper the graves are legal, based on an assessment that the situation was an emergency.

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