World's largest fur broker announces closure after mutated coronavirus strain found in mink

Kopenhagen Fur, the world’s largest fur auction house, is set to close its doors within the next two to three years.

The Humane Society International (HSI) said that the closure of the company could signal the beginning of the end for the global fur trade. As much of the world’s fur is traded by just a handful of auction houses.

Just hours before the announcement, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) published its new report on the mutated strain of COVID-19 found in Denmark mink farms.

The report highlighted concerns that the evolution of the virus in mink has potential implications for COVID-19 diagnosis, treatment and vaccine development, and could undermine the effectiveness of future vaccines in humans.

The report also citet the need for ongoing investigations to assess whether the new ‘cluster 5’ variant alters the risk of reinfection, or could cause reduced vaccine efficacy or reduced benefits from blood plasma treatments.

It also stresses that “continued transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in mink farms may eventually give rise to other variants of concern.”

“The ECDC risk report and the announcement by Kopenhagen Fur that it will cease trading could very well signal the beginning of the end of the worldwide fur trade,” said Dr. Joanna Swabe, senior director of public affairs for HSI.

“Fur farms are not only the cause of immense and unnecessary animal suffering, but they are also ticking time bombs for deadly diseases, potential virus factories capable of churning out mutations of COVID-19 and even undermining medical progress towards reliable treatments.”

Swabe added that fur farming nations can no longer justify allowing an industry that both threatens human health and costs tax-payers billions to manage biosecurity risks and provide farmers compensation following culls.

“We cannot simply wait for the next pandemic to emerge. Governments must end the cruel and risky fur trade for good and focus instead on supporting fur farmers as they move to humane, safe and economically viable livelihoods.”

The Kopenhagen Fur auction house is a cooperative company owned by 1,500 Danish fur farmers.

The disappearance of the fur broker is likely to have a domino effect for producers in other European countries and beyond.

The sale of 24.8 million mink skins were brokered through Kopenhagen Fur 2018 – 2019.

During that time, the UK imported around £131,523 and £181,765 worth of fur from Denmark respectively – far less compared to over £ 200,000 worth of fur imported from Denmark in previous years.