The zoonotic potential of mink farming
Victoria Marincheva, Iliyan Manev
Abstract: Minks can be infected and serve as a source of several zoonotic diseases, among which the recently gaining popularity SARS-CoV-2 and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). However, many others can be potentially dangerous to humans and other animals but have been neglected as rare. Nowadays mink farming has been widen its influence beyond the bars of cages and has become both an economical, ecological and ethical question. Economy lies in the heavy losses of many countries with developed mink industry during the COVID crisis and the need for welfare improvement in the sector. Ecology calls for attention on the invasive nature of the species and the effect of feral populations on native fauna. It is also ethical to ask do we really need to breed minks for their fur especially under conditions that do not answer their behavioral needs, definitely unsanitary and cruel, as well as being the cause of unprecedented exchange of pathogens between humans and a naturally solitary creature? This article is dedicated to the zoonotic potential of minks as a part of a wider problem that can shake the One Health concept.
Keywords: avian influenza; mink; SARS-CoV-2; zoonosis
Citation: Marincheva, V. & Manev, I. (2024). The zoonotic potential of mink farming. Bulgarian Journal of Animal Husbandry, 61(3), 29-38.
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| Date published: 2024-06-30
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