Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Dutch authorities announced this week that they suspect a mink has transmitted the coronavirus to a worker at a fur farm in the Netherlands. If confirmed, this would be the first concrete evidence of a specific species passing the virus to a human.Analysis found strong similarities between the virus in the worker and in the animals, making it plausible that the virus jumped species. “Based on this comparison and the position of that form of the virus in the family tree, the researchers concluded that it is likely that one...…Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Dutch authorities announced this week that they suspect a mink has transmitted the coronavirus to a worker at a fur farm in the Netherlands. If confirmed, this would be the first concrete evidence of a specific species passing the virus to a human.Analysis found strong similarities between the virus in the worker and in the animals, making it plausible that the virus jumped species. “Based on this comparison and the position of that form of the virus in the family tree, the researchers concluded that it is likely that one...WW…

Investigators say thousands of squirrels have been illegally trapped and sent to South Korea as pets.Most people never noticed the flying squirrels in Florida’s woods. Even after hundreds, then thousands, of the small, brown rodents started disappearing, many of their human neighbors didn’t suspect anything was wrong. The squirrels sleep during the day, only emerging from their nests at dusk to glide—not actually fly—from tree to tree, covering up to 160 feet with each leap and executing magnificent loops and turns in pursuit of acorns and hickory nuts. Their chirps, often emitted at...…Investigators say thousands of squirrels have been illegally trapped and sent to South Korea as pets.Most people never noticed the flying squirrels in Florida’s woods. Even after hundreds, then thousands, of the small, brown rodents started disappearing, many of their human neighbors didn’t suspect anything was wrong. The squirrels sleep during the day, only emerging from their nests at dusk to glide—not actually fly—from tree to tree, covering up to 160 feet with each leap and executing magnificent loops and turns in pursuit of acorns and hickory nuts. Their chirps, often emitted at...WW…

Spread of the coronavirus has exposed troubling problems at fur farms and how we respond to outbreaks there.Anne Sofie Hammer was searching for sick mink. The Danish government had hired the University of Copenhagen veterinary pathologist in June 2020 to investigate if farmers were infecting mink with the novel coronavirus. This meant going from farm to farm, looking for animals that weren’t eating or had a cough and taking blood samples and mouth swabs.The virus, SARS-CoV-2, had been spreading rapidly among mink farmers, and officials were worried that it would not only infect the...…Spread of the coronavirus has exposed troubling problems at fur farms and how we respond to outbreaks there.Anne Sofie Hammer was searching for sick mink. The Danish government had hired the University of Copenhagen veterinary pathologist in June 2020 to investigate if farmers were infecting mink with the novel coronavirus. This meant going from farm to farm, looking for animals that weren’t eating or had a cough and taking blood samples and mouth swabs.The virus, SARS-CoV-2, had been spreading rapidly among mink farmers, and officials were worried that it would not only infect the...WW…