World's Biggest Fur Auction House To Close In 2023

The end of fur industry is closer than we think. The world’s largest auction house for fur said it would close down in 2023. 

The 90-year-old company called Kopenhagen Fur announced the decision after Denmark’s government ordered mink farmers to start culling their herds on fur farms in an effort to fight a coronavirus mutation.

Denmark was the world’s biggest producer of mink until last week. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced the order on November 4th. She said scientists had discovered a rare mutation of the coronavirus which has the potential to pose a threat to vaccine efforts.

Kopenhagen Fur wrote on its website that it would start the liquidation process as soon as it sells out the stored pelts. The company has enough pelts to hold auctions next year. 

Denmark’s animal rights group Dyrenes Beskyttelse reported many errors and cruelty towards animals during the process. According to reports, thousands of mink carcasses were scattered across the main Danish motorway, according to eye-witness reports.

The decision of the Danish government was challenged by Anthony Fauci, the US infectious disease official who said that the mutation detected in the mink farms wouldn’t compromise vaccines that are in development.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said that the virus mutation found in Denmark “could potentially affect the level of overall vaccine effectiveness of vaccines under development” but also pointed to “high uncertainty,” and added that “further investigations are required regarding the nature of these mutations and their implications for issues such as vaccine effectiveness.”