How can you get rid of wild mink that are causing lots of damage?

Baiting and hunting are the two main ways of killing a mink. You can also block off their dens. Just remember that if you hunt mink that you can make money off of them.

The best way to catch mink is by trap. Traps MUST be checked at least once a day!

A very successful method of trapping is to;

• Dig a piece of (round) drain pipe into the river bank side above the water level
• cover the pipe leaving the end open to the river
• put the set trap inside the pipe

When the trap is new you can put bait inside it to catch the first mink- this will hide the smell of human on the trap.

Once you have caught one mink in the trap there is no longer a need to bait the trap, this is because the mink will smell that another mink has been in the trap and then enter as they are a very inquisitive animal. Sometimes they will just enter the trap in the pipe as cover from strong rain and cold weather.

Mink that is caught MUST BE KILLED (humanely) AND NOT RELEASED as they are a non native species that causes many problems for native species. (Local farmers, vets, RSPCA and Countryside Ranger will usually destroy these for you if you don't want to)

Do your bit to help and support native British species!