Covid-19 mink farm cull, Teruel
Enforcement Action
Expired
July 17, 2020
Summary
In May 2020, an asymptomatic worker scheduled for surgery at a hospital in Teruel province, Aragón, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2; two cohabitants employed at a mink farm in La Puebla de Valverde also tested positive, leading to testing of all fourteen farm workers, of whom seven were positive. Human COVID-19 cases were first notified on 19 May 2020. On 22 May 2020, the Gobierno de Aragón’s Consejería de Agricultura, Ganadería y Medio Ambiente ordered farm immobilisation — prohibiting movement of minks, animal products, and workers beyond essential operations. Four official sampling rounds were conducted between 27 May and 7 July 2020, with 396 samples analysed in total. The final sampling on 7 July confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in 86.67% of animals by RT-qPCR. Regional agriculture minister Joaquín Olona announced the cull decision on 15–16 July 2020. Culling operations began on 17 July 2020 and were completed by 21 July 2020, killing all 92,700 minks on the farm using carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gas; the farm was subsequently cleaned and disinfected. The culled animals comprised 19,500 adults (15,600 females and 3,900 males) and 73,200 kits. Pelts from culled animals did not enter the retail fur market. The farm had its own integrated feed factory and slaughter facility; both ceased operations following depopulation. The unnamed commercial operator was indicated as eligible for financial compensation by health authorities.
At the time of the cull, the Teruel farm was the only mink farm in Aragón and held 13,500 breeding females. At the national level, Spain had 37 registered mink farms at the beginning of 2020, most concentrated in Galicia. The Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación (MAPA), in coordination with the Ministerio de Sanidad (CCAES), had established a national Prevention, Surveillance and Control Programme for SARS-CoV-2 in American mink farms covering biosecurity requirements, enhanced clinical surveillance, and worker access restrictions. The Aragón cull is documented as one of the farms applying “vacío sanitario” following SARS-CoV-2 confirmation and ceasing production in 2020. By February 2021, Spain’s active mink farms had declined from 37 to 26, with Aragón recording no active mink farms.
Scientific investigation of the outbreak was led by the Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Zaragoza (IA2, IISA), which conducted necropsies, histopathology, RT-qPCR, serology, and virus sequencing. Phylogenetic analyses by the IBV-CSIC SeqCOVID-Spain consortium indicated mink-derived SARS-CoV-2 sequences derived from a human variant prevalent during Spain’s first epidemic wave, with rapid mink-to-mink transmission within the farm documented through high seroconversion rates (89% of 98 necropsied minks).
Background Context
During the first half of 2020, several EU mink farms — initially in the Netherlands — were reported with SARS-CoV-2 infections, some accompanied by increased mortality and pneumonia, others with asymptomatic animal infections. MAPA and CCAES established the national mink surveillance programme in response, requiring farm operators to notify official veterinary services of clinical signs compatible with SARS-CoV-2 or epidemiological links with human COVID-19 cases and mandating enhanced biosecurity. The Aragón enforcement action followed the Netherlands’ precedent of precautionary mink farm depopulation where widespread infection was confirmed.
System Impact
Direction
Reduces Exploitation
Type
Changes Scale
Significance
Moderate
Worker infections at the Teruel farm were first notified 19 May 2020. Farm immobilisation was ordered 22 May 2020. Four sampling rounds (27 May–7 July 2020) documented escalating infection: the final round confirmed 86.67% animal infection by RT-qPCR. Regional minister Joaquín Olona announced the cull on 15–16 July 2020. Culling was executed by official veterinary services (Servicios Veterinarios Oficiales, Aragón) using gas from 17–21 July 2020. Farm cleaning and disinfection followed. The Instituto de Salud Carlos III performed virus sequencing. The Universidad de Zaragoza and IBV-CSIC conducted detailed epidemiological, pathological, and phylogenetic investigations, published in the scientific literature from 2022 onward. National surveillance documents the Teruel farm as one farm that applied “vacío sanitario” and ceased production in 2020. Spain’s active mink farms declined from 37 (early 2020) to 26 (February 2021), with additional closures from SARS-CoV-2 control measures in 2021. No legal challenges or reversals of the cull decision are documented in sources consulted.
Anticipated Effects
If the national SARS-CoV-2 biosecurity and surveillance programme for mink farms is consistently applied, it would be expected to detect future infections earlier and reduce the period during which mink farms amplify SARS-CoV-2, potentially limiting spread to workers and adjacent facilities.
If similar culling and “vacío sanitario” measures are applied to future positive mink farms in Spain, the national mink sector scale would be expected to contract further through closure of infected facilities — a trajectory documented in 2021 with two additional farm closures.
Whether the Teruel facility was permanently closed for all agricultural uses or repurposed after 2021 is not established in available sources.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Reduces Exploitation (impact direction) because 92,700 minks were killed and removed from the production system at the Teruel farm, which ceased mink operations. The cull is documented as contributing to the decline of Spain’s active mink farms from 37 to 26 by February 2021.
Assigned Changes Scale (impact type) because the primary mechanism is mandatory full depopulation of all animals on the infected farm, directly reducing the number of minks in the Spanish fur production system and removing one facility permanently from the national mink production network.
Assigned Moderate significance because the enforcement action eliminates mink farming at the only farm in Aragón and removes 92,700 minks from production, contributing to documented national mink sector contraction, but the broader Spanish mink sector continued operating with multiple farms remaining in other regions at the time of the cull.
The duration and persistence of the scale change is not established in available sources; the Teruel farm is confirmed as having ceased mink production by February 2021, but sources do not establish whether the site was permanently closed or repurposed.
Key Actors
Gobierno de Aragón (Consejería de Agricultura, Ganadería y Medio Ambiente), minister Joaquín Olona, ordered farm immobilisation and the cull. Servicios Veterinarios Oficiales of Aragón implemented enforcement, sampling, and culling. MAPA (Dirección General de Sanidad de la Producción Agraria and Subdirección General de Sanidad e Higiene Animal y Trazabilidad) designed and coordinated the national SARS-CoV-2 surveillance programme for mink farms. Instituto de Salud Carlos III conducted virus sequencing. Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Zaragoza led scientific investigation. IBV-CSIC (SeqCOVID-Spain consortium) conducted phylogenetic analyses. The unnamed commercial operator of the Teruel farm held liability; compensation was indicated by authorities.
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