minks

The cull was ordered after a mutated version of the coronavirus was found to have spread among the country's mink herd. It later emerged the government did not have legislation in place for the order.

The strain found in the minks is the same one found in humans, an agriculture official said, and a breeder at one farm also tested positive. Some 2,500 minks have reportedly been culled already.

This outbreak of COVID-19 adds to the list of animals that can contract the disease. And, in this instance, the minks seem to have passed the virus on to humans.