Having spread widely since its arrival in Britain in the mid-20th century, the American Mink has long been assumed to be a permanent feature of the British fauna. Recent developments in East Anglia, however, offer hope that nationwide eradication could be more than just a pipedream; here Vince Lea describes the ground-breaking initiative that could help to tackle one of Britain’s most notorious invasive species.
In December 2020, I described the Waterlife Recovery East plan for a trial eradication of American Mink Neogale vison from East Anglia (BW 32: 165–172). The implementation of that plan commenced shortly afterwards, thanks largely to £225,000 of funding from the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, as described in an update in February 2023 (BW 34: 307).