A mink eradication plan in the High Weald of Sussex is proving so successful that Defra has given the go ahead to extend the project across southern England from the Kent coast to the Dorset border. It raises the realistic prospect that this invasive aquatic mustelid – a diminutive relative of otters, badgers and weasels – may be removed from the UK within a decade.
Imported from North America in the 20th century to be farmed for fur for the fashion industry, mink became established in the wild after many escapes and deliberate releases.
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This was a disaster for native wildlife that, having not evolved alongside mink, had few defences. The small, agile predator can find its way into the narrowest burrow, and is blamed for the severe decline in numbers of water voles. The Waterlife Recovery Project (WRP) estimates that a single mink predates at least 500 animals a year.
The traps themselves are an adaptation of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust's mink rafts. Instead of baiting with food, the traps are loaded with the powerful scent from the anal glands of captured mink, which prove irresistible to the insatiably curious wild animals.
When a trap is sprung, a signal is sent to monitors' phones pinpointing time and location. This eliminates the need for constant, time-consuming monitoring and makes it easier to manage the North Weald's often remote wooded valleys.
Trapped mink are shot and the bodies sent to the WRP for DNA analysis that helps monitor the overall population. As is the case with East Anglia, once mink have been removed, numbers of species such as water voles and moorhens almost immediately bounce back.
