‘Smart’ trap trial raises hopes American mink can be driven from UK

Conservation groups target ‘impossible dream' of eradicating invasive predators after success of East Anglia trial

American mink – the mustelids escaped from fur farms who have decimated populations of water voles and other native birds, fish and amphibians – have been eradicated from a swath of East Anglia.

Until now, mink have never been successfully removed from any large area of Britain but the success of a trial using drops from the invasive predator’s pungent anal scent gland to lure animals into hundreds of traps raises hopes that the species can be eradicated from the whole country.