In Denmark: New study says groundwater in the area may already have been contaminated and urges authorities to act quickly

Cruel ignorance or the right measure? Decaying mink carcasses buried in mass graves in Denmark after national slaughter may have contaminated groundwater, reported local Radio4 

The Danish government ordered the slaughter of some 17 million minks at the beginning of November after coronavirus outbreaks hit several farms and the authorities found strains of the virus mutated among people.

The logistical challenge of disposing of such a large number of dead animals led the authorities to bury some of the mink in ditches in a military area in the west of the country under two metres of land.

Later, the government said it wanted to bury them again because some resurfaced from the mass graves - most likely the gases from the decomposition process pushed them out of the ground, which earned them the nickname "mink zombies" in the newspapers.