Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 10:09:09 -0800
Subject: Mink trapping course offerred to UK public (The Herald)

NOTE: The report below, which states that mink "escaped" from UK
farms, is not quite accurate. Most were stolen and abandoned in the
wild by animal "liberationists" on a crusade to eliminate human use of
animals for natural fiber cold weather clothing (forcing a shift to
non-renewable, petrochemical-based synthetics). It is ironic that such
action has now resulted in the need for trapping and hunting feral
American mink, which are a hardy non-native species in the UK.
Trapping and hunting, along with fishing, are also taboo to animal
libbers. While farm-raised mink struggle if abandoned in the wild in
North America where the weather is more extreme than that found in the
UK, mink are native to North America and so any survivors here simply
revert to naturally-occurring traits and don't threaten native
wildlife long-term. That said, dumping thousands of farm-raised mink
all at once into any environment is neither good for the mink nor the
environment. For more on the subject, visit "Can Farm-Raised Mink
Survive in the Wild?" at
http://www.furcommission.com/Biology/release.html and "True Colors" at
http://www.furcommission.com/farming/colors.htm which details the
development of different colors of mink over generations.
--------------------------------

THE HERALD
Mink trapping course offered to Skye crofters and farmers
By DAVID ROSS, Highland Correspondent

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/other/di...and_farmers.php

A one-day course in mink trapping will be offered on Skye next month
for crofters, farmers and environmentalists worried about the spread
of the American mink across the island.

There are thought to be 10,000 of the non-native species in the Outer
Isles, the result of attempts at commercial farming in the 1950s and
1960s. More than £1.6m has been spent since 2001 eradicating the
species from the Uists and now a £2.5m five-year programme is under
way to tackle them on Lewis and Harris where they are most numerous.

However, mink is also now causing considerable concern on Skye. They
are thought to have originally escaped from mink farms in Argyll in
the 1970s and swum across to Skye at Glenelg where the mainland comes
closest to the island.

Stephen Varwell, Skye area officer for Scottish Natural Heritage,
which is running the course in conjunction with the Scottish
Agricultural College, said yesterday that mink had now been reported
in all corners of the island.

"What we don't have is a real handle on the numbers. There is concern
from two perspectives. There is the impact of the mink attacking local
people's hens and ducks and then there is the environmental concern
for the likes of the ground nesting birds and the gull colonies. "

He said the course would show people how best to trap and dispatch the
mink on their own land whether for agricultural reasons or those of
conservation.

He said that members of the public did not need a licence to kill
mink. The law simply required them to do so in a humane way with a
legal firearm.

The mink trapping course will be held at the Aros Centre Portree, on
February 21.
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I wonder what color phases they have. The UK may be one big fur farm of wild mink. Interesting stuff Mira Trapper.