May 18, 2021 05:58 PM EDT
Last year, Denmark reduced the number of farmed minks by killing them in hordes after coronavirus infections broke out amid the animals. But in the succeeding months, hastily buried mink remnants started rising up from the ground, moved skyward by the gases oozing from their decaying flesh, according to news reports.
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Culling Farmed Minks
Danish authorities publicized a plan in November 2020 to reduce the number of all farmed mink in the country after over 200 farms reported SARS-CoV-2 infections amid their animals, Livescience reported previously. The virus, which brings about COVID-19 in humans, had picked up mutations while dispersing among the mink, and the Danish officials became disturbed that the mutant virus might be transmitted to humans and worsen the pandemic.
Zombie mink slaughtered due to coronavirus are rising from mass graves livescience.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from livescience.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Coming Petdemic
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WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
Because our furry friends got us through this year. But what if they re the source of tomorrow s infections?
By Hillary Greene
December22, 2020
In this country of 330 million people, there are 160 million cats and dogs spread across 67 percent of households. Since 1960, 75 percent of human diseases have come from animals, and since 1990, the number of such disease outbreaks has tripled to about 300 per year
. The past decade “has witnessed unprecedented pandemic explosions,” according to a study by Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. David Morens of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. What if the next pandemic is also a “petdemic,” when our animal companions infect us and vice versa?