Wildlife groups agree £1m plan to wipe out American mink nuisance

The three-year scheme aims to create a 7,720 square mile mink-free zone from rural Tayside across Aberdeenshire, Moray, the Cairngorms and the Highlands to protect native wildlife.

The 920,000 investment will build on previous control projects in the Cairngorms National Park, Highlands and north east Scotland in the hope of stopping the spread of the animals.

The Scottish Mink Initiative is a new partnership between Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the University of Aberdeen and 16 other organisations.

Four mink control officers have been appointed to help establish a monitoring and control zone across the north, extending from the mid-Tay to the South Esk, around the east coast to the River Nairn, and across from Dornoch and Cromarty on the east to Ullapool on the west.

Mink will be monitored using rafts that record footprints in tunnels, set with clay pads near rivers and canals.

Landowners, fishery trusts, volunteers and others will also watch for evidence of mink and protect wildlife vulnerable to the voracious creatures, including water voles, salmon and ground-nesting birds such as lapwing and greenshank.

The project organisers say while control will be necessary, animal welfare considerations will be paramount to the operations.

Hollie Walker, the Scottish Mink Initiative co-ordinator, said: "This initiative is as much about ensuring economic security for local communities as it is about protecting Scotland's wildlife.

"By taking action now to prevent mink from continuing to impact negatively on our native wildlife, we are also safeguarding local economies and livelihood's which depend on angling, shooting, or wildlife tourism.

"The success of this initiative relies on community support and involvement, and we hope that by working with homeowners, landowners, river trusts and boards, and local interest groups, we can deliver real, tangible results to benefit local communities now and in the future."

The American mink is a semi-aquatic carnivore that first became established in the wild in Britain in the 1950s.

Following numerous escapes and releases from fur farms, the animal spread throughout most of the country.

Its diet consists largely of birds, small mammals, fish and crabs, but it has been known to take poultry from hen houses and runs.

A report last year showed mink have colonised most of the coastline of Skye and Lochalsh.Hotspots have been found in Kyle, Kylerhea, Loch Bracadale and North Trotternish, as well as the islands in the Sound of Raasay.

Fur farmers brought American mink to the Western Isles in the 1950s and 1960s with feral individuals first recorded in Lewis in 1969.

They have since spread southwards, reaching South Uist by 2001. According to SNH, mink almost certainly having a serious adverse effect on the native biodiversity of the Western Isles and pose a particular threat to the many internationally important populations of ground nesting birds.

A project has been removing mink from the Western Isles for ten years, during which time almost 1,500 animals have been cleared.