B.C. phasing out mink farming by 2025 over COVID-19 concerns

British Columbia is beginning a process to phase out the farming of mink in the province, Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham announced Friday.

British Columbia is beginning a process to phase out the farming of mink in the province, Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham announced Friday.

The process, which is being implemented because of concerns over COVID-19, is expected to be completed by April 2025, Popham said.

Mink on three different B.C. farms have tested positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 since last November, and groups including the BC SPCA, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, and more than two-dozen infectious disease specialists have called for the end of mink farming in the province.

Denmark ordered the slaughter of millions of mink in November 2020 over concerns that the coronavirus could mutate in the animals and be passed back to humans. 

Popham promised that B.C. would provide support to mink farmers and their workers as they wind down their operations.

There are currently nine mink farms operating in B.C. They employ approximately 150 people.