3.7 million mink under the hammer

37 million mink under the hammer
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fullscreen Minks bred for the fur industry in Norway. Archive image from 2010. Photo: Heiko Junge/Scanpix Norge/TT

Soon, the last club will be swung at the world’s largest fur auction house, Kopenhagen Fur.

Between June 1 and 6, the auction house in Glostrup, Denmark, sells off its last furs and skins. Then 3.7 million mink skins go under the hammer, according to a press release.

The auction house announced its closure in November 2020. The announcement was a direct consequence of the then Danish government’s decision to cull all animals in the Danish mink industry, for fear of a widespread spread of a mutated covid-19 variant.

According to the auction house, fur customers from all over the world are now on their way to Denmark to buy mink skins. The skins from the marten attract high-purchasing customers mainly from Asia, but also Europe.

For years, animal rights organizations have criticized the mink industry, in which the animals are raised and killed so that humans can wear the animals’ skins and fur.

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