The BC SPCA has slammed proposed welfare changes for minks that it said would worsen conditions for the animals on Canadian farms.
Mink farming has become a high-profile industry in recent months as two farms in the province declared COVID-19 outbreaks.
At the first farm, located in the Fraser Valley, an outbreak was declared on Dec. 6 after several workers and animals tested positive and about 200 minks died over a five-day period. On the second farm, at least 23 animals died between Dec. 19 and 23, although no workers tested positive for the virus.
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In a Tuesday (Jan. 26) news release, the BC SPCA said that changes proposed to the Code of Practice for Mink last month would remove a requirement for larger cages by 2023 and 鈥渁llow the use of killing methods that cause mink distress before they die.鈥�
鈥淎t a time when we know that distance helps reduce disease transmission, fur farms in Canada want to keep wild mink, who normally have a home range of several kilometres, in tightly packed cages as small as two pieces of paper,鈥� said BC SPCA spokesperson Geoff Urton.
The proposed code changes would allow carbon dioxide to be used as a backup method for the killing of mink, according to the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farmed Mink. The code states that a four per cent or greater concentration of carbon monoxide causes 鈥渞apid loss of consciousness followed by death and is the preferred method of euthanasia for mink.鈥�
According to the code, the standard for euthanasia is that it 鈥渕ust induce rapid loss of consciousness followed immediately by death and cause minimal distress and pain.鈥�
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Editor鈥檚 note: In an earlier version of this story, carbon monoxide was identified as a new method of killing mink at fur farms. Carbon monoxide is already used, carbon dioxide is being suggested as a backup method.
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