Denmark mink cull: Prime minister faces calls to resign over illegal killings

The prime minister has a duty to ‘acknowledge that when she makes a mistake, it’s her responsibility’

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (AFP via Getty Images)

Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen has faced calls to resign over an illegal order to cull the country’s farmed mink.

The government ordered the culling earlier in November to help stop the spread of a mutated strain of Covid-19  on farms – but later admitted that the  order had no legal backing.

Until two weeks ago, Denmark had one of the world’s largest populations of mink. The animals are bred for the fur industry and farmers have said that the cull may end their businesses for good.

The military and the police were drafted in to help farmers kill their 17 million farmed mink.

Health authorities were concerned that the outbreaks could be a risk to public health and worried that the efficacy of vaccines could be put at risk.  

After the resignation on Wednesdays of Mogens Jensen, the agricultural minister,  opposition leader Jakob Elleman-Jensen said: “I want the prime minister to do the same.

“I want the prime minister to acknowledge that when she makes a mistake, it's her responsibility,” the Liberal Party leader said.

Mr Elleman-Jensen was backed by the Danish People’s Party, with other political groups calling for an independent investigation of the government’s actions, to establish whether it knowingly broke the law

In order for such an inquiry to be carried out, a majority vote would be needed in parliament.

Denmark’s trust in government has suffered a dramatic drop in the past few weeks, a study shows. 

The research by Aarhus University shows just over half of the population trust the government – compared to a high of more than 75 per cent in July.