Photo by We Animals
British Columbia’s fur farm industry saw multiple COVID-19 outbreaks over the course of the pandemic. The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus among farmed minks on three fur farms ultimately resulted in the province banning mink farming in 2021 over its public health risk, becoming the first province in Canada to ban the practice. But new research shows that SARS-CoV-2 wasn’t the only zoonotic disease circulating on BC’s fur farms during this period. (Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases that can be transmitted between humans and animals).
A new study, published in the journal Zoonoses and Public Health, reveals that influenza A viruses (IAVs) were also detected in farmed minks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under a surveillance program that was testing for SARS-CoV-2 on BC’s mink farms in 2021, scientists incidentally detected influenza viruses in seventeen minks. The authors write, “Based on genomic sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, these IAVs were subtyped as H3N2s that originated from reassortment of swine H3N2 (clade 1990.4 h), human seasonal H1N1 (pdm09) and swine H1N2 (clade 1A.1.1.3).”
The scientists were unable to conclude how minks became infected with these IAVs but offered some possibilities, including the feeding of raw poultry necks and backs to minks, infected wild minks interacting with captive minks, environmental transmission of the viruses during a historic flood in November 2021, and airborne transmission from nearby pig or poultry farms.
Implications for public health
These findings raise concerns about the potential circulation of zoonotic diseases on Canadian fur farms, especially in the absence of active disease surveillance by either provincial or federal public health agencies on fur farms. The authors of the study note that influenza viruses are likely under-detected and under-reported, emphasizing that the circulation of IAVs in farmed mink raises public health concerns over the potential of zoonotic disease spillover.
Similar conclusions were drawn by government and public health researchers who responded to the COVID-19 outbreaks on BC’s mink farms. In their 2022 article, published by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the authors write:
“Without ongoing worker and mink herd surveillance, it is possible that mink farm outbreaks and the associated risk of mink-related viral adaptation and transmission back to the community are occurring undetected in other jurisdictions including other provinces.”
The absence of disease surveillance in Canada’s fur farm sector is a concern as many zoonotic diseases could be circulating undetected on fur farms across the country. A 2024 study published in Nature provides evidence that the fur farm sector is a pandemic risk, as researchers detected 125 viruses circulating on Chinese fur farms, including 36 new viruses and 39 viruses at “potentially high risk of cross-species transmission, including zoonotic spillover”.
The scientists who authored the study on IAVs in British Columbia recommend disease surveillance for farmed minks and warn of the public health risks drawn from their research.
“These spillovers also raise issues for public health officials. Similarities between human and mustelid respiratory physiology suggest overlapping susceptibility to certain IAV lineages, as evidenced by the apparently frequent spillover of human seasonal IAVs into mink noted above. This means that IAVs detected in mink must be assessed as potential spillover threats to humans.”
Take Action!
The evidence is clear that fur farming poses a health risk to Canadians. Many countries have taken this risk seriously and banned the practice. It’s for Canada to join them.
Here are two ways that you can take action and become part of the movement to end fur farming in Canada:
- Visit furfarming.ca/take-action to send an email to your MP calling for an end to fur farming in Canada.
- Click here to sign the federal e-petition that is calling on the Government of Canada to prohibit fur farming for all animal species nationwide. This petition is open for signatures until January 27, 2025. After signing, share this petition with your friends, family, and on your social media channels.
