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Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

thelocal.dk

121–130 of 274 posts

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is very much analogous. Lots of pigs getting culled (in many cases burned and/or buried alive on a grand scale) because they are infected with diseases that are dangerous to humans. Corona included. I just keep being surprised that there is consensus forming around mink but the hog issue, which is very similar and actually a bigger problem by numbers, is not really part of the mainstream debate. For some re…

Everyone eats pork. Only the rich wear mink coats.

Including Pigs. Never forget that when Fred dies early of natural causes, his life long friends will be munching on him soon. Note that this is while on full food and not at modern feed lot densities, just on a low rate family farm.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#122
If we weren't children we should be having this discussion around urban cats.

Which can catch the disease and will be spreading it in urban areas.

To understand how important this is we'd need competent western scientists, which is a system we simply don't have.

But I think banning cats from nursing homes would be prudent. I'd even say shooting on sight zombie style since they might kill with close contact.

But the scientific community can't even decide on whether homo sapiens should wear a mask after a 100 years of research.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#123

This is very alarming. It may already be happening in the wild as well. Unless a successful cure is found, it doesn't seem vaccination will be the end

It is happening in the wild. All the time. That’s how we ended up here in the first place. The best we can do is avoid getting close to wildlife, and leave nature alone.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#124
post #25

I hope that ends the industry. And make the state provide better/different jobs for the people affected.

Denmark is not a socialist/communist/marxist country, it is not the Danish state's function to provide jobs for people.

No, but it is the states function to provide for the unemployee. The state also runs job centers, which helps people find new jobs. You don’t need to be communist to care for people, or help the find employment.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#125
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t agree. Pigs are on the same cognitive level as dogs. Would it be morally acceptable to kill and eat a (big) dog for its 150000 calories after raising in terrible conditions for a few years?

It seems to be becoming less acceptable in one of the few places to actually do that.

Kinda my point. Why are dogs not ok but pigs no problem.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#126

If we weren't children we should be having this discussion around urban cats. Which can catch the disease and will be spreading it in urban areas. To understand how important this is we'd need competent western scientists, which is a system we simply don't have. But I think banning cats from nursing homes would be prudent. I'd even say shooting on sight zombie style since they might kill with close contact. But the s…

Cats need to be banned for a number of reasons, most importantly they can make people crazy and they kill an insane number of birds. It does matter that birds may be killed by windmills, when it’s not even comparable to the number cats kill.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#127
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on where you are. The US has significantly improved testing (I work for a COVID-19 testing company) but people don't socially isolate or wear their damn masks. We had issues in the election yesterday of poll workers not wearing masks. People just don't get it, and this behavior clearly isn't "fixed" as the winter surge is well under way.

A question: Why aren't we running randomized survey testing to determine the extent of infections?

Who would pay for it? Or do the work, or collate it, or publish the results? Portions of the federal government are actively hostile to fact-based public health work. The rest of it seems to be either defunded or demotivated, as opportunity allows.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it that much worse than farming hogs? Most of that is done in cages too small to turn around or stand. Live transport and slaughter is also amazingly horrific.

This question is easy for me — hog farming is, overall, a greater harm because we are talking about more pigs and more horrendous conditions. Both are morally impermissible, in my opinion, which is why I keep to a vegan diet and don’t wear fur. Putting aside the harms to animals for a moment, we might consider both mink farms and hog farms to be part of a larger problem, which is monoculture agriculture. Minks weren’…

Barely anyone cares about fur products, but people are too stuburn to stop general meat consumption - even if not totally - not matter the cost. Eating more vegan meals is probably the best personal action one can make for the environment. Most other significant actions can only be made on a corporate level.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t agree. Pigs are on the same cognitive level as dogs. Would it be morally acceptable to kill and eat a (big) dog for its 150000 calories after raising in terrible conditions for a few years?

> raising in terrible conditions ...source? Farming doesn't have to be intensive. We get milk from a nearby farm. Given we mostly walk there the "food miles" would be precisely zero.

> Farming doesn't have to be intensive. We get milk from a nearby farm. Given we mostly walk there the "food miles" would be precisely zero.

Sure, that is nice but in no way representative.

More than 99% of produced hogs do live in horrific conditions. The fact that you know of a happy hog doesn't relate to the vast majority of hogs.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Increasing the cost of food is anti-poor. Increasing the cost of luxury fabric, not so much. Until poverty and hunger are eliminated worldwide, it's going to be hard to make me care more about how animals are farmed in order that the most possible people can afford enough to eat. It's easy to not care about people not getting mink coats. Much harder to care about people having food taken out of their mouths by people…

It is funny that you mention human need for food. Hog is actually an inefficient food production method because they need to be fed more corn/soy etc than the food they produce. If your goal was to make food more accessible to the poor then one way to go would be to stop this inefficient food production method and just consume the corn/soy protein directly. That would be healthier also. Consuming corn/soy directly wo…

Consuming excessive amounts of corn is associated with other issues, up to and including cannibalism, mind.

https://phys.org/news/2017-01-corn-french-hamsters-deranged-...

Do not discount the value add of multiple digestive and organ systems worth of energy work, even if the numbers otherwise look attractive. The entire planet is interrelated.

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