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Mink devastate Maldon's waterways

Thursday, July 17, 2008, 09:48

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MALDON'S wildlife could be devastated by an invasion of carnivorous mink – and may need a cull before it's too late.

The Essex Wildlife Trust and Environment Agency is asking for support from Maldon District Council to protect the district's water vole population.

Mink, which are not native to this country, could also have potentially devastating effects on fish and birds such as moorhen, terns, ducks, grebes.

Essex Wildlife Trust's water for wildlife officer Darren Tansley warned: “Water voles are now fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and are a biodiversity action plan species for Essex, but in spite of this we have lost 95 per cent of Essex water voles now.

“Maldon is one of the few councils with existing water vole populations and without protection from mink those will be gone by the end of the next decade. I hope that the council can back our project and help secure a future for this species in Essex.”

Large numbers of north American mink have escaped or been deliberately released from fur farms and spread across the county's network of waterways.

To protect vulnerable wildlife the trust plans to install six mink monitoring rafts in the Heybridge Basin and local parks in Maldon.

If the rafts identify a high population of mink the trust would conduct an organised cull of the animals.

A Maldon District Council spokesman said: “We have a duty to conserve and enhance biodiversity. Officers and volunteers put a lot of effort into ensuring that our parks and open spaces are managed sensitively for the benefit of wildlife and people.

“It is essential that mink populations are controlled in order to protect the diversity of our wetland habitats.”

Plans to control the district's mink population will be decided at the community services committee meeting tonight, Thursday, at the district council offices.