From the Scotsman:
Aggressive mink have colonised most of the coastline of Skye and Lochalsh posing a risk to ground-nesting birds, according to volunteers carrying out a monitoring project.
Hotspots have been found in Kyle, Kylerhea, Loch Bracadale and North Trotternish as well as the islands in the Sound of Raasay, the Skye and Lochalsh, Environment Forum’s Mink Survey says.
About 50 people have now reported mink sightings, including those that have been trapped, killed on the roads or had footprints recorded in tunnels set with clay pads.
Scores of volunteers, including crofters and members of conservation bodies and fishing organisations, have helped gather the information for the survey, which is funded by Scottish Natural Heritage, the Highland Council and the European Leader programme.
The aim is to develop a policy to help protect native wildlife and biodiversity from the alien species.
Mink were introduced into Britain as a farmed animal for their fur, but escaped, or were released into the wild, where they compete with otters and others of the weasel family. They feed on fish, ground-nesting birds, eggs, and small mammals, and often take poultry from hen houses and runs.
Mammal Society member Roger Cottis welcomed the recent results: “This is an important element in the continuing fight to help indigenous Scottish wildlife under threat.”
A project has been removing mink from the Western Isles for ten years during which time almost 1,500 animals have been cleared from the islands.
I wonder what solutions they will come up with.
I bet they are going to trap and neuter all the wild mink.
And then they’ll feed them so they won’t hunt native birds or mammals.
And then their numbers will drop through attrition.
Actually, we know fully well what they will suggest.
Give me a C. Give me U. Give me an L. Give me another L.
And no one will say a word about it.
You know I hate mink. Every little thing about them.
Well said, understood, and with healthy red-blooded words. I feel better.
But I would have to disagree (like you invited in your about) because:
a) The mink are beautiful. (joking, but they are beautiful)
b) I have , partly thanks to your argueing about “native animals” finally solidified my own opinion on introduced species:
That each individual species must be looked at individually, and rated on it’s effects on its host country and the area it is in, and the population numbers it produces.
And that the importation of a variety of healthy wildlife from other countries could be beneficial to the US.
For example: What about wasting disease in elk? Might there be species of antelope from Africa or Asia which are immune? Perhaps, some of these speices could be introduced to where the elk are/were.
This would spread the elk out, where they would have less contact with elk from other elk herds, lessening the spread of disease.
It would also help preserve foreign endangered species, and once their numbers built up, diversify the big game species for the area.
(And, c’mon, would you like to have a dozen different antelope speicies in the woods?)
As for the beautiful blood-thirsty varmints, they are beautiful aren’t they?
Okay, in Scotland, they might need to be managed, but what does?
There was a concerted effort to remove “wild” goats from San Clemente Island in CA (see wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Clemente_Island_goat). A lot of folk tried “trap and remove”, but this didn’t eliminate the goats. A similar furor took place with the Navy removing Golden Eagles from Santa Cruz island (it was the Navy, not the Nature conservancy, who captured and preserved the native Santa Cruz kit fox, removed the Golden Eagles, and reintroduced the Bald Eagle that doesn’t hunt foxes). The same applies to the wild pigs on some of the CA islands. I live in an area where there are wild horse and burro bands. And I can “accept” their being there. What annoys me is the objection to dealing with these animals like any OTHER wild animal whose numbers are too large for the land to sustain it. No one requires anyone to eat horse. It is beyond me why folk seem to think that they are required to prevent anyone else to do so. It’s great to want to “preserve” wild horses in NY – but one doesn’t deal with them there. By the way, the native desert bighorn does have overlap with the grazing areas of these horse bands and is impacted by their overgrazing the available food. And no, there aren’t cattle there. It’s DOD property.
I can see the arguement regarding “barn cats” — it’s their farm and they can keep cats there if they want to. But it’s a different proposition to argue that one doesn’t “own” feral cats but insists that no one else can deal with the problems those particular cats present.
Peggy Richter
I agree with you on barn cats. I think what people do on their own properties is none of my business. (Of course, I don’t mean that in totality but as a principle, yes.)
I believe the Fund for Animals got involved with the San Clemente goats and didn’t want them shot. I suppose the would do the same with goats on the Galapagos. Who cares about land iguanas? Goats deserve to live.
I agree with you very much on these feral animals. They are here to stay, but that doesn’t mean we can’t treat them like other wildlife. In fact, their needs should come a distant second to native wildlife.
They will never get rid of American mink in Europe, but they can control their numbers.
They could start by legalizing pack hunting and put those otterhounds back to work.
From my point of view we all co-own jointly the wildlife, the lands, and the non-owned feral animals.
One could even say that the public owns the dogs and cats at the pounds – WE THE PEOPLE, OWN THE GOVERNMENT, what is the government’s things, are, jointly owned by the public – with some exceptions.
I was recently near Skye and a tourist pointed out he thinks he can see an otter, on a closer look it was in fact a Mink.
I really think it will take many many years to remove these animals from the Western Isles, it is not just scotland but southern england are also host to these mink.
thanks for the article best wishes
Greg
Years ago, I went to Hawaii, and was thrilled to see mongoose there. The government saw them as introduced pests, but I loved watching them!
Culling an introduced species for the sake of the indigenous populations.
hmmmm.
Go right ahead.
Is that like: “put them on a boat back to where they came from”?
I will go back to my various ancestral lands, but being a mixture of various nations myself, I insist on a full tour of ALL possible ancestral lands first, before I choose – that would be a free tour of Europe in the late spring/summer?
Shall I pack now?
Maybe I can even post a photo of those American Scottish imported mink? Do you think they’d come close for a photo if I tossed them bits of a fish sandwich?
mink, like all weasels are incredibly cool creatures.
You have a thing against weasels, it seems. Are you going to gin up a post about vicious wolverines now?
I don’t see why the non-native mink can’t be extirpated. We’re pretty good at killing mammal species and wiping them out. Except for rodents of course. And cats, though for a different reason.
I am a Mustelid nerd.
I love these things. I have a winter phase long-tailed weasel in my freezer, because I think it’s such a cool specimen.
Mink are hard to get rid of because they are pretty smart.
It is always cool to see little wild animals.
But I don’t quite get the idea of putting something you”love” in a freezer.
Culling them is a pointless endeavor.
Not until fur farms raising them are eliminated.
Even without intentional releases, mink escape from fur farms frequently enough to be a problem.
Fur farming has been banned in the UK…
And Scotland hasn’t had an active fur farm since the 90’s.
They can swim! :) American mink still pose a problem in the EU where fur farming is legal. I’ll amend my statement to apply to them, instead!