Call to end mink farming due to risk to human health

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Wild mink also at risk from farming

A Nanaimo veterinarian and several animal scientists are calling on the province to end mink farming in B.C. Dr. Ken Langelier says COVID-19 outbreaks at two farms in the Fraser Valley have shed light on the unnecessary risks posed to human health. Scientists are concerned because the virus can mutate in mink and the mutations could affect vaccine efficacy. Animal welfare specialists say wild mink are also at risk for the virus because of the farms and mink farming itself is cruel. Langelier says the public health risk posed by the mink farms far outweighs any social or economic benefits.

"And it's a big concern as the virus continues to mutate, that we may all of a sudden have something come up in our own province and do we want to continue to take this chance. And really, this industry that provides fur and false eyelashes and mink oil, we don't need it. It's not really providing what I would say is a valuable function in our society and it should go.”—Dr. Ken Langelier.

The letter, to BC's Ministers of Agriculture and Forests and Lands, calls on the province to help BC's 13 mink farms transition to other types of agriculture. It is signed by Langelier, 2 animal welfare scientists and environmentalist David Suzuki. The BC SPCA has also called on the province to end mink farming, but so far, no one from the province has responded to those requests.

Immunization program will ensure a second dose

The provincial health officer says a delay in the supply of the Pfizer vaccine means BC will receive only half the doses it expected over the next three weeks. Dr. Bonnie Henry says that's why the immunization program will focus on those who need a second dose.

“We have, however, been able to rearrange and look at the process we have to make sure that we are continuing with providing the first of two doses to those at highest risk and that we are able to start second doses at day 35. So it is a bit of a setback but it is only a delay.”
—Chief Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Despite the setback, Henry says residents and staff at every care home in BC will have received their first COVID-19 vaccine by the end of next week.

Mountain rescue

Three people from Victoria were rescued from a steep section of Mount Arrowsmith on Sunday. The Alberni Rescue Squad Search manager says a helicopter hoist was used to remove the hikers, who were clinging to each other on a ridge. Dave Poulsen told Nanaimo News Now that had “one of the hikers let go, more than one of them would have fallen." One woman is in serious condition in hospital, while another is stable. The male hiker suffered no injuries. Witnesses say the trio left the Judge's Route Trail and were hiking in uncharted territory.