The plan was to stop the mutated virus in the Danish minks before it began to spread in society.
A mutated coronavirus would make it more difficult for a working vaccine to work.
But the decision to kill all the minks in the country was made before there was any legal support for it.
The government lacks the authority to order mass slaughter on fur farms.
Plans for mink slaughter have now been scrapped, as the Danish Parliament, the Danish parliament, does not support the bill.
- The government is playing with the Danish democracy, and they will stop doing so, said Ellemann-Jensen, party leader for the Liberals, after the vote
"Apologize"
Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Mogens Jensen (S) states in a written comment that the government should have been clearer that they could not demand that the minks be killed.
- I apologize, he writes.
Jensen explains that the pandemic required a clear decision about the minks, and that it was based on the Danish Public Health Agency's recommendations:
- When SSI says that continued breeding of minks during an ongoing covid-19 epidemic entails a significant risk to public health, there is no time to waste.
"Must be held accountable"
2.5 million minks have already been killed, as fur farm owners believed the government's decision was law.
At present, it is not clear whether they will be compensated for the slaughtered minks.
Danish TV2's political editor, Troels Mylenberg, believes that this will be the death knell for the mink industry.
- Someone must be held accountable, he says.
The bill on mass slaughter will be tried in the Folketing again, but this time it will go through a longer process before a decision is made.