Shed a tear for the minks

It reads almost like Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, only, this is for real. Dead minks “rising” from their graves in Denmark. “Zombie minks”, as they’re being called.

Several thousands of them, healthy ones and those infected with the coronavirus, were culled at mink-farms for fear they would transmit the virus to humans. The irony of that fear is that it is humans who transmitted the virus to the minks in the first place.

And, now, bodies of the minks “emerge” from mass-graves, reportedly pushed-up due to gas beneath the decomposed carcass. The tragic reality is minks are farmed and kept closely packed in cages for their fur. In the 21st century, when entrepreneurs like Elon Musk plan to get man onto Mars, humans follow the medieval practice of taking animal fur to keep themselves warm in winter. Surely, there are enough scientific brains in the world capable of developing “faux (artificial) fur” to keep people warm. Mink-farms need to shut forever and the little animals freed from captivity. That way, neither will man give mink the virus, nor will the mink pay for it. In a post-Covid world, it’s time to give animals their space and end mink and other fur-farms in Denmark and other countries. Governments need to push for this, as much as they urge China to stop consuming wild and endangered animal meat.

This unhappy mink story spreads to other countries with similar farms. And the self-serving action is repeated. Every time there is a disease outbreak, chicken, pigs, etc., packed in small cages or kept in unhygienic conditions, are “culled”. But the unhealthy farm practices continue. Cows are injected with oxytocin for more milk, antibiotics are used in livestock — blind-spots in society, until a health emergency or scam erupts. And even then, the tears are only for people who farm these animals, lose money on it. High time we shed tears for the minks, as well.