Fueling the Invasion

[David oakman]

No

[Peter]

Why not retrain the mink to eat parakeets, and kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

[felixthelogchopper]

Why not retrain the mink to eat parakeets, and kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

 

Give that man a coconut, best idea I have heard today

[felixthelogchopper]

No

 

No fun, some people

[Dean Lofthouse]

I had a mink hung onto my finger for about 10 minutes once, right through to the bone. Little git let go when I bit it back though

 

I thought it was a good idea to pick it up same as I picked my ferrets up......... it wasn't !

[Saw-sick Steve]

The river deben where i live is free of mink now as all the landowners helped. We have now had a couple of otters back:biggrin:

 

Plenty of evidence to suggest that Otters actually out compete Mink, and may even predate them.

As for Parakeets, they oust native species by taking over nest sites, particularly Starlings and Great-spotted Woodpecker.

[felixthelogchopper]

Plenty of evidence to suggest that Otters actually out compete Mink, and may even predate them.

As for Parakeets, they oust native species by taking over nest sites, particularly Starlings and Great-spotted Woodpecker.

 

If they tried to oust the in-laws' woodpeckers, I suspect they might get a little tickle from a .177

[Lyn Ed]

im sure i read in shooting times a couple of months ago that these parakeets had been put on the pest species list, might be wrong tho

[Charlieh]

Plenty of evidence to suggest that Otters actually out compete Mink, and may even predate them.

 

really this i have to see, if your refering to the oxford uni papers by laura bonesi about 3yrs ago these have been rubbished by the uni

 

mink are fierce, otters wont very often kill a mink, 75% of road kill otters show signs of fighting with mink (EA/Cardiff uni post mortem study), they will never out compete them a species as they occupy very different niches. In the work that we (RSWT) have carried out we find mink signs drop off when otters are present but it doesnt mean they arent there, i have trapped mink in cages with otter spraint on top of them in the same night,

 

if otter territory is optimal and drops below 20km then the mink just spend more time terrestrially which means they are very difficult to track and trap

 

 

sorry this is one of biggest misconceptions i come across and unfortunately its a hard one to get people to break,

 

 

I spend way to long trapping mink on the riverbank (had about 140 in three summers though )

[Saw-sick Steve]

Yes, thats one i can remember, Oxford Uni. Wildlife Conservation Unit - didn't realise it had been trashed? Had similar info. from Vincent Wildlife Trust fairly recently.

Also, anecdotally I can relate from personal experience. The river I grew up alongside used to be living with Mink when I was a kid. Playing in the summer hols, never fail to see at least 1 mink a day, usually more. Never saw an Otter.

 

Moved away for 12 years, been back for 12, same stretch of water, not seen ONE mink - seen three Otters though.

 

As to mink sprainting near otters, I once had a rat chew its way into the Ferrets cage - needless to say, that one won a Darwin award!