Public health experts say a nightmare scenario is playing out in Utah, and state and federal officials are mostly looking the other way. In a lengthy investigation, Nat Lash and Julie Leopo of ProPublica report that a virulent bird flu strain has ripped through thousands of mink at C&T Fenn Farms for more than two months—on an animal whose lungs closely resemble ours and which has already shown it can transmit respiratory viruses to people. Unlike with poultry, where a single positive test triggers government-ordered mass culling, there are no federal rules for mink. Utah’s state vet declined to order a cull at the farm and hasn’t even visited the site, relying instead on phone calls and Google Maps.
According to ProPublica, which calls the situation a “perfect petri dish” for a potential pandemic, Utah officials also agreed not to actively monitor or routinely test workers, despite CDC guidance and even after one worker showed a classic bird flu symptom. Experts quoted in the piece warn that the farm is an ideal setting for the virus to adapt to humans, especially as flu season ramps up. To see how economics, secrecy, and regulatory gaps collided on a single fur farm, read the full investigation at ProPublica.