There’s a mink in my back garden, what to do?

[tearingmyhearout242]

I live in an area not far from where there used to be a mink farm years ago. It got shut down but many escaped/were let loose and it’s not unheard of to see minks in the local area.

The past week I’ve been waking up and finding remains of dead rodents in the garden. Often there isn’t much left. I thought maybe it was a local cat. Except yesterday evening I saw something black and slinky run across the garden. Having seen a mink in a local park before I recognised it as a mink.

DH went wandering around the garden and found a burrow, it goes underneath the shed. He left an old unused camera there overnight and we did in fact catch footage of it leaving the burrow and going back in later. It even sniffed the camera. It’s adorable, but we can’t just leave it when they are so dangerous to natural wildlife.

DH wants to try and catch it himself. But there don’t seem to be any mink sanctuaries etc we could send it to. I assume due to them being an invasive species. I just want to get an exterminator in to get rid of it humanely ASAP, especially as we are trying to move. I’m sick of all of the dead rodents.

I'm rural, we definitely have rats and mice nearby! See field mice and I have seen rats the one time we tried feeding wild birds. Birds ignored it, rats had a feast 🙄

But invasive species gotta go. Mink are vicious little sods (cute though they are) and represent a threat to water voles etc.

Entirely humans fault too, keeping Mink for fur. It's far from idea but best to call RSPCA or someone who can advise best course of action

You could see if a ferret rescue will take it.

I wouldn’t care if it was just killing rodents.

But in our garden we have ducks/moorhens/coots and the mink kill every thing they can. We have a local guy who will come and set humane traps and then despatch them.

Thankfully we’ve not seen one or evidence of one, for about 5 years now.

I think calling or emailing Natural England may be more helpful than RSPCA.

Details:
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So removing one mink is SHOCK INHUMANE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU but all those rodents it is killing just deserve it because they aren't as cute?

Rats and mice aren't vermin unless they are coming into too close contact with people, which OP says they don't. Mink are an invasive species - invasive species literally destroy wildlife habitats and disrupt whole ecosystems. Allowing them to flourish is very, very cruel and you can't call yourself an animal or nature lover if you think they should be left unchecked. It goes beyond rats - rats are part of an ecosystem of many creatures.

Obviously people often make pretty…combative …posts on AIBU quite often but @Philisophigal…wow.

Doesn’t England have an invasive species site, like Scotland? It should.

I would ring the authority responsible for the nearby river and request help trapping it. Ours sets traps along the banks of the river near us and may go wider, if the mink are spreading out.

If you're not accustomed to trapping and shooting, perhaps see if there are any people in the local who could help.
Or ring round local rat catchers, exterminators, etc.

Oh and OP, please don't try to trap it yourself, please take the advice of various posters on here on people who will be trained in how to do it.

It’s a bit like red signal crayfish. Also an issue where I live. My son has a trapping license and catches them and we enjoy crayfish Alfredo.

Both of my friend’s soppy cats were killed by mink. Her terrier had a go and survived but his injuries were awful. Vet bill over £1000. I’m an animal loving, hunt protester but I’d try and get it humanely destroyed.

@Thatswhyimacat

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

“Minks are the only animal which kills for sport. Not for food. Not for fear. For sport”

This did make me laugh.

Please, dear god above, don't let your husband try to catch it. He clearly doens't know how to do this so he's likely to injure it or himself. And as for keeping it a pet - it's a WILD animal! It would be more humane to just bloody shoot it than try to keep it in what for it would be a terrifying and horrifically stressful situation.

Natural England aren’t an extermination company I don’t see what they could do. It’s not like they will send someone out to deal with it.

@Throckmorton

I’m of the exact same opinion.

He’s going on about how surely he can find somebody on the internet who keeps them, who will take it off us.

I’d be worried about inadvertently sending it to a worse fate, an underground fur farm or an abusive home or even it dying from stress.

Ideally there’d be a lovely mink sanctuary for it to go to but there are none.

we shouldn’t keep on killing animals like they don’t matter.

Except to eat them, you mean?

What about a local zoo, would they take it maybe?

@overitall1

Minks are the only animal which kills for sport. Not for food. Not for fear. For sport.

Apart from humans presumably?

....and cats

Poor things escaped a mink farm, is finally living its life and now you want to ‘humanely’ kill it?
Leave it alone! Poor things been through enough because of us!

@Memyselfandfood

The mink farm closed decades ago. It’s descended from the original escapees

Anyone who says they prefer a mink to other rodents is spot on. And the rodents they catch have a quick death compared to the slow dehydration caused by poison bait

I wonder if you remove the mink,if another one will just move in? So whats the point?
Its like foxes- theyll take over that patch

I saw i mink in my local park over lockdown. Beautiful. And it keeps on top of the grey squirrel population presumably.

I wonder if you can dissude nesting birds this year? Maybe if its not good hunting ground , itll go?
I wonder if any birds or prey will come down for the leftover rodents? Something to think about ..

Christ he sounds naive! What the heck does he plan to do with it in the meantime - hope he can persuade it to chill in the guest room until this mythical person arrives to take it to a sanctuary?! A sanctuary that doesn't exist and which even if it did would probably still stress this poor animal to death because it's a WILD animal, not something that wants to be cooped up. What on earth has this mink ever done to him that he wants to basically torture it? And to teach your son that this is how you treat animals?!

@Wormwoodgal

Make a teeny, tiny coat?

😂

@Throckmorton

He is acting naive about it, because it looks cool