Reintroduction of European mink in Estonia
The European mink is endangered, critically so within the European Union. It can still be found in small, fragmented, declining populations: 500 - 100 in Spain, several hundred in France, less than 1000 in Romania, some 350 - 400 in the Ukraine. Some declining populations exist in northeastern Russia. The total number of mink is unknown, but all its populations are highly fragmented and declining (see reference at end of text).
A number of threats are leading to its extinction. These factors often act in concert and/or in sequence with cumulative negative effect for the survival of the species. Historically the threats were habitat loss, overhunting and the impact of the introduced American mink. Today, however, several additional factors have been suggested to worsen its status; road kill, Aleutian disease, inbreeding, water contamination, by-catch (see reference at end of text)
It has been suggested that the European mink survival can be guaranteed with effective captive breeding combined with the establishment of island populations in the areas with suitable habitats, but inaccessible for the American mink.
The conservation of the European mink has been the major conservation priority of the Tallinn Zoo (Estonia) since early 1980s. Then the first animals were brought into captivity and the first successful breeding was achieved. Since mid-1990s the European mink has bred regularly in Tallinn. The European mink EEP was launched in 1992. By the end of 2007 more than 300 mink were held in zoos.
In late 1990s, a program to establish a population of European mink on Hiiumaa (1000 km², Estonia’s second largest island) was launched. First the feral population American mink had to be eradicated. Since then the captive born European mink has been regularly released to the island. Up until 2007, 330 mink were released in Hiiumaa Island. During this period different release methods has been tested. The best success was achieved by releasing the animals into special acclimatization enclosures first. Pregnant captive born females from Tallinn Zoo breeding facility were introduced into these enclosures. These females together with their litters were allowed to leave the enclosures while still receiving provisioning.
European mink released each year
Since 2000, the animals have been regularly monitored each winter to assess the number surviving this period of high mortality rate. The data show that the number of animals identified during monitoring has increased steadily, as can be seen in the graph.
Reference: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/ema/species/mustela_lutreola.htm
