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.

He's sounding worse and worse by the minute. It's alive, not an accessory!

@tearingmyhearout242
Are you definite it couldn't be an otter? They're protected, so worth checking.

This tells you all you need to know. Google :
Mink Control Best Practice For Wildlife Conservation

Just googled minks, they're really cute aren't they, they definitely don't look like these evil killers being described ! Ain't looks deceiving

www.gov.uk/guidance/foxes-moles-and-mink-how-to-protect-your-property-from-damage

I wouldn’t want a mink in my garden. They’re vicious. I’d be awake all night worrying about it getting in the house and savaging me in my sleep . I’d also not want to come across it outside.

This might be helpful:

www.diy-pest-control.co.uk/blog/how-to-get-rid-of-mink/

Leave the poor thing to live in peace. Why do humans have to play God and interfere in every damn thing!

I'm in Scotland so i thought you meant you had a a dirty person in your garden

I know if you trap foxes, grey squirrels or mink you have to kill them humanely asap. I don’t think any sanctuaries take mink, same as grey squirrels as they’re invasive. You’re not allowed to transport them either to release them somewhere else. A man near us used to trap foxes and then transport them and release them on the downs and he got a massive fine.

RSPCA don’t get involved with mink as an invasive species, you need to contact Natural England. Here’s a link: www.gov.uk/guidance/foxes-moles-and-mink-how-to-protect-your-property-from-damage

Good luck.

@HerbertChops

I know if you trap foxes, grey squirrels or mink you have to kill them humanely asap. I don’t think any sanctuaries take mink, same as grey squirrels as they’re invasive. You’re not allowed to transport them either to release them somewhere else. A man near us used to trap foxes and then transport them and release them on the downs and he got a massive fine.

RSPCA don’t get involved with mink as an invasive species, you need to contact Natural England. Here’s a link: www.gov.uk/guidance/foxes-moles-and-mink-how-to-protect-your-property-from-damage

Good luck.

Absolutely NOT the case with foxes!

Leave the poor thing to live in peace. Why do humans have to play God and interfere in every damn thing!
Don’t you think that other wild animals and the environment are worth protecting?

To clarify, that Gov page is unclear. You can't trap foxes with the purpose of relocating them elsewhere; you absolutely CAN trap with with the intent of getting them medical attention and then returning them to where they came from, or trapping them and then realising they are too sick to be released but could live in a sanctuary. With grey squirrels it is different - if you trap one, for any reason, you are not allowed to re-release it into the wild so you either have to keep it (assuming you trapped it for medical attention and you yourself run a sanctuary), or kill it

Leave the poor thing to live in peace. Why do humans have to play God and interfere in every damn thing! This is so simplistic. My husband would call you a 'townie'.

Mink are non-native and horrendously destructive. They are voracious predators which have a devastating effect on native mammals and birds. Would you rather they proliferate at the cost of several native species?

@Adeleskirts

They are vicious and highly aggressive . Call the rspca.

We got one in the house once, bugger ran in and dived under the sofa. Fortunately it left again,

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

Cats kill for sport too. They are animals. No animals have a sense of morality. Doesn't mean we should kill them all!

There may be reasons why the link needs to be humanely killed (eg effect if other wildlife if that's the case) but the lack of the mink's moral code isn't one of them!

If it is a mink and you catch it, you legally must humanely destroy it. Anyone you asked to come and catch it will have to do the same (same with grey squirrels).

I’ve no idea what I would do but I remember watching a guy in America who rescued minks and trained them to do ratting jobs. There’s a YouTube channel iirc, viscous little buggers but they did the job!
I doubt licenses are dished out in the UK for training mink though.

Was this the PETA own goal where they liberated 6000 mink from a farm in the new forest, which was closing anyway, only to see 3000 of them die almost immediately, then see farms attacked with lambs and chickens killed in massive numbers?

I lived there at the time and couldn’t have my windows open as mink would jump in them and attack the cat.

Where are people living in the uk that they don't think there are rats or mice nearby?
Mink are cute but they're bloody mental.
Some wildlife is a risk to a few things, pet cat/dog/foxes etc but minks act like they've had 1 too many Stella's and will go for anything and everything.

Contact a local gamekeeper and they will come and catch it- they eat the fish and baby pheasants

That what we did growing up

No I’m in Cheshire @BoredZelda

This article from the 90s talks about my local incident www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/5310409.farmers-on-alert-for-freed-mink/

@Partey

Yes DH has been watching his channel and that’s the kind of guy he wants to give the mink to. I’ve tried telling him there won’t be people like that in the U.K.

@tearingmyhearout242 Crazy that this is still causing problems. The new forest one was around1998.

Wtf ? It’s not even harming you. Why do you think you need to interfere with nature ?

@tearingmyhearout242 You can’t catch mink between March and August - so you’ll be stuck with it until then, whatever you do.

I’d also call Natural England to make a plan, but you’re probably not going to get rid of it before you sell, if you’re planning to list soon.

I lived there at the time and couldn’t have my windows open as mink would jump in them and attack the cat.

🤣😂🤣 As if.

@TakeYourFinalPosition

Won’t it have moved on by August?