Success in bid to eradicate mink menace

EFFORTS to wipe out alien American mink from the Western Isles are working, according to a report today, which shows that a purge has helped native birds and wildlife.

Monitoring work by RSPB Scotland found that Arctic terns are breeding more successfully in areas where the voracious, non-native predators have been trapped and shot on the Uists.

The first phase of the Hebridean Mink Project, which began in 2000 and is costing 1.65 million, aims to eradicate mink from North and South Uist and Benbecula and drastically reduce their numbers in South Harris.

A bid is to be made for another 3 million needed for phase two, which will tackle the bigger problem of clearing mink from Lewis and Harris over five years.

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.

They have been blamed for killing poultry, raiding fish farms and threatening bird colonies in the islands.