'Alien' mink are wiped out in cull on Western Isles

TRAPPERS yesterday ended a cull of mink in part of the Western Isles after successfully wiping out the alien species which is threatening internationally important birds.

The population of American mink has now been eradicated from North and South Uist and Benbecula, although the fight continues against the marauding animals in Harris.

The first phase of the Hebridean Mink Project, costing 1.65 million, started in 2001 with the aim of clearing mink from the Uists and reducing their numbers in south Harris.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has confirmed an extra 30,000 for further work in Harris over the next three months. However, it still needs 2.5 million for Phase 2, which aims to rid Lewis and Harris of the animals over the next five years and make the entire Western Isles a mink-free zone.

A bid for the funding was turned down last month by the EU LIFE programme, which paid half the budget for phase 1.

To date, 230 mink have been caught in the Uists and 302 on Harris. The mink which are shot in the islands are sent to York for lab tests as part of the ongoing study and then disposed of - intact - by burial or incineration

A recent report indicated the purge was working, and showed birds breeding successfully again in areas where mink had been eradicated.

In December, RSPB Scotland monitoring work found Arctic terns are breeding more successfully in areas where the mink have been trapped and shot on the Uists. Nest survival of Arctic terns was found to be more than three times higher on the southern islands, compared with that on Lewis and Harris to the north. However, the funding problem has raised concern that mink may move back into cleared areas in the Uists.

American mink were introduced to the islands in the 1950s and 60s in attempts at commercial farming in Lewis. When that failed, the animals were released or escaped and spread rapidly.

Up to 10,000 adult mink are thought to have colonised the islands and have been blamed for killing poultry, raiding fish farms and threatening bird colonies in the islands by eating chicks and eggs. The cull is backed by the Scottish Executive, Western Isles Council, Western Isles Enterprise, RSPB, and the Central Science Laboratory.

David Maclennan, the SNH project director, said: "American mink is a non-native species and voracious predator and is putting the future of protected ground nesting wild birds in the Western Isles at risk by eating chicks, eggs and adults.

"We are pleased to report the first phase of the project in the Uists has been successful in terms of our objectives, and our policy of the control of mink has yielded satisfactory results. Trapping in the Uists officially ended yesterday, bringing a successful conclusion to our work there, but SNH is committed to continuing this project to ensure mink do not have an adverse environmental impact on the native species of the Western Isles."

Mr Maclennan said SNH would continue to make applications to funding bodies to get the money needed to complete the project.