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Press Release LAV 06/11/2020

COVID AND MINKs, NEW VIDEO-INVESTIGATION DISTRIBUTED BY LAV: SEVERAL ITALIAN BREEDERS HAVE VIOLATED “ANTI-COVID” REGULATIONS, WIDESPREAD LACK OF USE OF PPE BY OPERATORS, ALSO IN THE CREMONA BREEDING FARM WITH COVID- POSITIVE, SUFFERING, AND INJURED ANIMALS KEPT TOGETHER WITH DEAD ANIMALS. APPEAL TO THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND THE PRESIDENTS OF , , EMILIA ROMAGNA, AND ABRUZZO: “THESE BREEDING FARMS ARE CONTAINERS FOR THE CORONAVIRUS. THEY MUST BE CLOSED IMMEDIATELY.”

Violations of biosafety norms in place to fight the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus emergency in ’s mink breeding sector. The violations have been documented by LAV, releasing exclusive images, also of the Cremona breeding farm owned by the President of the Mink Breeders Association and in which, this past August, there were the first documented cases of minks testing positive for the coronavirus in Italy, for this reason subjected to particular monitoring of sanitary conditions which, evidently, were not always respected.

Images which, for institutions and citizens, call attention to the urgent decision to permanently close these breeding farms which, in addition to causing enormous suffering to animals, are also containers for the coronavirus.

The new, dramatic, videos distributed by LAV in the middle of this pandemic, show not only the inhumane conditions of thousands of farmed minks, piled into minuscule and lurid wire mesh cages (wire mesh also on the floor) and in precarious hygienic conditions, deprived of every basic ethological need (like climbing, digging, and swimming: minks are, in fact, semiaquatic animals), animals with serious injuries following episodes of aggression or self- inflicted wounds, minks with stereotypical behaviours, and even dead animals left in cages with live ones. The new video-indictment is “enriched” by another striking fact: the operators systematically violate biosafety regulations put in place in order to avoid introducing the coronavirus into these breeding farms.

“The safeguard of public health, specifically in terms of the further potential spread of the coronavirus via mink breeders, cannot depend on the will of breeders to respect biosafety measures. Minister of Health Roberto SPERANZA and Regional Presidents Attilio FONTANA, , , and are responsible and have the power to close these containers for the coronavirus,” declares LAV.

There are 8 mink breeding farms in Italy: 3 in Lombardy in the of (in the municipality of Calvagese della Riviera) and Cremona (in and ); 2 in Veneto in the provinces of Padua (in Villa del Conte) and (in Scorzè); 2 in Emilia- Romagna in the provinces of Forlì-Cesena (in Galeata) and Ravenna (district of San Marco); and 1 in Abruzzo in the of Aquila (in Castel di Sangro).

The total population of minks is over 60,000 animals which, each year, are born between April and May and then killed, with gas, between December and January in order to obtain their furs.

The coronavirus is spreading like wildfire in mink farms in Holland, Denmark, , Sweden, the USA, and with an instance in the Capralba breeding farm (Cremona), in August, ”https://www.lav.it/ uncovered following diagnostic tests on the animals after an operator came down with Covid-19. In Europe, between April and October, the following were recorded: ⚫ outbreaks in more than 250 breeding farms;

⚫ more than 6 million minks were killed following emergency procedures (or rather in absence of the minimal norms specified in Reg.CE/1099/2009 and aimed at ensuring that animals suffer as little as possible when they are killed) and to which an additional 15 million are added after a recent decision by Denmark to kill an entire population of minks;

⚫ at least one thousand cases of mink-human spillover, documented with genome sequencing. The currently available scientific evidence confirms that humans are the primary source introducing the virus into these breeding farms and that, finding particularly favourable conditions (animals that are susceptible to coronavirus infection and a context of intensive animal farming – thousands of animals in very little space), the virus was able to efficiently replicate itself among animals that are often asymptomatic, its genome mutated (with typical characteristics of the strains isolated in the global human populations) and having completed an additional species jump, infecting people once again. In Italy, the Ministry of Health (with the Circulars n.11120 dated 14 May and n.16241 dated 21 July) established a “mink protocol” consisting of an Epidemiological Survey that includes conducting specific diagnostic tests (swabs), only after symptoms associated with the infection have manifested themselves or after an increase in mortality. The Ministry of Health’s “mink protocol”, in and of itself limited because it is ineffective in identifying asymptomatic positive animals, is thus further weakened because of failure to comply with biosafety measures during ordinary management of the animals, measures which are aimed at preventing the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 in breeding farms, such as: ⚫ Wearing PPE like gloves, masks, and protective goggles;

⚫ Wearing designated clothing and footwear for the cleaning of the facility and changing in and out of them within a dedicated area inside the facility itself (filter zone). Dirty clothes must be replaced regularly;

⚫ Avoid as much as possible any close contact with the animals, maintaining a distance of at least 1 metre;

⚫ Placing so called “Danish customs” at the entrance of the structure with dedicated footwear for each area in the breeding farm;

⚫ Placing small sanitising buckets containing virucidal disinfectant at the entrance and exit of the shelters before the “Danish customs” (ex. solutions of sodium hypochlorite);

⚫ During daily food preparation and distribution procedures, in an effort to reduce contamination, personnel must wear PPE and keep the time between preparation and distribution to a minimum. The images distributed by LAV, and taken within Italian mink farms, document total non-compliance with basic sanitary measures, thus increasing the risk that the coronavirus is introduced in intensive breeding farms of animals that are particularly susceptible to this infection and, therefore, the possibility of creating true containers for the coronavirus. The Netherlands, having taken note of the risks to public health related to the presence of mink farms, in August ordered the permanent closure of these breeding farms starting in January, while this week Denmark ordered that all 17 million minks present in 1,139 breeding farms be killed in order to avoid further spread of the virus which, having mutated within these farms, is already found in the population and with a genome that is different from that of the basic strain which researchers around the world refer to for the development of a vaccine. Meanwhile, will our government and our regions continue to ignore the fact that “our” 8 Italian breeding farms could be ticking time bombs given their confirmed active role in large scale and long term secondary transmission of the virus?

LAV has already launched the PETITION #EMERGANZAVISONI https://www. so that the breeding of minks for their fur may be banned by the end of the year, thus avoiding the start of a new “production” cycle for that which is a true virus factory.

6 November 2020 LAV Press Office 06 4461325 – 339 1742586 www.lav.it

VIDEO 1 “October-November 2020 – Mink Farms, Calvagese della Riviera (BS)” VIDEO 2 “October-November 2020 – Mink Farms, Calvagese della Riviera (BS)” VIDEO 3 “October-November 2020 – Mink Farms, Capralba (CR)”