Mink

Mink (Mustela vison) is one of the most widespread carnivores in North America and is generally found throughout forested regions across the continent (except for the high Arctic and arid regions of the southern United States), especially those containing wetlands.

It is about 18 to 24 inches (46 to 61 cm) in length, including the somewhat bushy 5- to 7-inch (13- to 18-cm) tail, and weighs 1 1/2 to 3 pounds (0.7 to 1.4 kg). Females are about three-fourths the size of males. Both sexes are a rich chocolate -brown color, usually with a white patch on the chest or chin, and scattered white patches on the belly.

The fur is relatively short, with the coat consisting of a soft, dense, underfur concealed by glossy, lustrous guard hairs. Mink also have anal musk glands common to the weasel family, and can discharge a disagreeable musk if frightened or disturbed. Unlike skunks, however, they cannot forcibly spray musk.

Feed and Ingestion Mink are monogastric animals with a digestive tract more similar to that of humans than that of rodents as there is no cecum at the junction of the small and large intestine. Daily requirements are 140 to 200 grams per kilogram of body weight per day (g/kg b.w./d) of feed and 75 to 100 milliliters (mL) of water per day, and their nutritional requirements have been reviewed by the U.S.

National Research Council’s Subcommittee on Furbearer Nutrition and others. Optimal diets consist of 18 – 30% fat, 25 – 40% protein, 20 – 50% carbohydrates, and 6 – 12% ash. Females need slightly more energy than males during the growth period (i.e., weaning to maturity), but this dimorphic difference does not exist in mature animals as both genders require approximately 140 kilocalories of metabolic energy per kilogram of body weight per day (kcal metabolic energy/kg b.w./d). It should be noted that mink require more energy, on a daily per kg basis, than humans.

Studies on the feeding habits of mink are based on the analyses of gastrointestinal tracts from trapped animals. In the wild, mink are opportunistic predators that consume a range of prey items available in their local habitat, including small mammals, frogs, snakes, and birds. As mink typically forage in close proximity to aquatic habitats, fish account for approximately 50% of their diet and represent the primary route by which persistent chemicals, such as mercury (Hg) and PCBs, are accumulated.

Life Cycle: Mink are polygamous and males may fight ferociously for mates during the breeding season, which occurs from late January to late March. Gestation varies from 40 to 75 days with an average of 51 days. Like most other members of the weasel family, mink exhibit delayed implantation; the embryos do not implant and begin completing their development until approximately 30 days before birth. The single annual litter of about 3 to 6 young is born in late April or early May and their eyes open at about 3 weeks of age. The young are born in a den which may be a bank burrow, a muskrat house, a hole under a log, or a rock crevice. The mink family stays together until late summer when the young disperse. Mink become sexually mature at about 10 months of age.

Mink are active mainly at night and are active year-round, except for brief intervals during periods of low temperature or heavy snow. Then they may hole up in a den for a day or more. Male mink have large home ranges and travel widely, sometimes covering many miles (km) of shoreline. Females have smaller ranges and tend to be relatively sedentary during the breeding season.

Damage Mink may occasionally kill domestic poultry around farms. They typically kill their prey by biting them through the skull or neck. Closely spaced pairs of canine tooth marks are sign of a mink kill.

Mink will attack animals up to the size of a chicken, duck, rabbit, or muskrat. While eating muskrats, a mink will often make an opening in the back or side of the neck and skin the animal by pulling the head and body through the hole as it feeds. Like some other members of the weasel family, mink occasionally exhibit “surplus killing” behavior (killing much more than they can possibly eat) when presented with an abundance of food, such as in a poultry house full of chickens. Mink may place many dead chickens neatly in a pile. Mink can eat significant numbers of upland nesting waterfowl or game bird young, particularly in areas where nesting habitat is limited.

Control Usually the best solution to mink predation on domestic animals is to physically exclude their entry, sealing all openings larger than 1 inch (2.5 cm) with wood or tin and by using 1-inch (2.5-cm) mesh poultry netting around chicken yards and over ventilation openings. Mink do not gnaw like rodents, but they are able to use burrows or gnawed openings made by rats.

Trapping is the legally acceptable and most effective way of controlling mink. Two kind of traps are allowed by law – live capture traps (cage traps) and spring traps (killing traps). Cage traps are recommended as they are less indiscriminate than killing traps and they reduce the deaths of non target species. If using mink traps, all traps should be fitted with otter guards.

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