Can Farm-Raised Mink Survive in the Wild?
By Teresa Platt, Executive Director, FCUSA
AFTER THE AUGUST 2003 ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT attack on the Roesler Farm in Sultan, WA, where 10,000 mink were dumped by eco-terrorists onto a town of 3,000 humans, their assorted livestock and pets, we were asked several times whether farm-raised mink can survive in the wild.
The short answer is "Yes and no".
Saga of the North American mink
The mink raised on North American farms are descendants of wild mink, native to North America, with some differences. Farm-raised mink are much larger than their wild cousins, come in a variety of colors, have poor to zero hunting skills, and associate the sound of machinery with the farmer's feed carts (hence traffic sounds act like a dinner bell). With a bit of luck and a steady supply of slow-moving feed, farm-raised mink can survive, for a time, in the "wild", generally by hanging around a chicken coop or gentleman farmer's duck pond. The family rabbit makes an irresistible target, but wild rabbits and birds would be extremely difficult for a farm-raised mink to catch.
Over the years, especially after very large numbers of farm-raised mink are released and abandoned (Arritola farm, Mt. Angel, Oregon, 10,000 mink, 1997; Drewelow farm, New Hampton, Iowa, 14,000 mink, 2000; Roesler farm, Sultan, Washington, 10,000 mink, 2003), a handful, in a variety of their selectively bred colors (blue and pink and white, etc.) have survived a mild winter into the following spring.
They play havoc with steady and easy sources of food (duck and koi ponds, chicken coops, etc.). If the mink make it through one mild winter and one mild spring, they still have to survive a hot summer and successfully reproduce.
After more than 60 attacks on mink farms in North America since 1995, in which hundreds of thousands of farm-raised mink were abandoned by the ALF, we at Fur Commission USA have yet to hear of even one established breeding colony of feral mink in North America. If anyone knows of one, please give us a call.
What About the UK?
But what about the UK, you ask.
American mink released and abandoned into the British countryside did survive the mild winters and make it into the following spring.
The American mink is not native to Britain, which has no large predators and lots of prey for the mink to survive on, such as chickens and pigeons in coops, and the eggs of ground-nesting birds.
The American mink did carve out some niches here, and set up small breeding colonies, impacting the domesticated animals and local wildlife.
The UK government did not allow trapping or control of these non-indigenous carnivores until scientists reported a drop in the number of water voles and demanded a control program. Animal rightists, of course, protested this too. They want no human intervention in what they perceive as "natural" cycles, no matter what the cost, or how unnatural.
What happens to abandoned mink?
Since farm-raised mink are domesticated, it is common when animal rights extremists attempt to "liberate" them for the mink to stay in their pens or go somewhere familiar, such as the nearest building or a pile of nesting materials. Often, if a mink is found hiding in a garage, the farmer only need place an open pen on the floor and the mink will run inside.
But this tendency to be drawn towards the familiar can also lead them onto highways. Engines sound like feed carts, and road traffic acts as a dinner bell for domesticated mink raised on farms.
For those that do leave the farm and are not recovered, it is safe to say the odds of them surviving to establish a feral colony - in the US at least - are virtually zero. Our experience is that most don't make it through the first week and the lucky ones are those killed quickly by cars. Death in the jaws of a dog is more brutal.
But the second week is the most painful. By this point the mink are starving and may begin to cannibalize themselves, starting with their own tails. ALF has no pity on these mink and prefers a slow, brutal death by "natural" means to any delivered quickly and painlessly by a human being.
On a farm, mink are fed and watered by the farmer, protected from predators and disease, to be harvested by humans for clothing, oils and other products. Most will make it to harvest time, experiencing survivability rates of almost 100%.
In the wild, most mink don't make it through the first few months and are taken by other creatures for food. Survivability rates for wild mink during the first year are down in single digits.
With the odds so greatly stacked against wild mink, which have all the necessary survival skills, imagine how difficult it is for a farm-raised mink to survive when abandoned into the wild. Unless it finds a chicken coop to raid, stumbles across a duck pond or finds a garbage site, farm-raised mink that are abandoned into the wild will have virtually no chance of survival beyond a short period and will suffer as they attempt to survive.
If you find a farm-raised mink that needs attention, please call us at (619) 575-0139 and we will have a farmer come and pick it up.
