Stoat, Mink or something?

MDR

I was on my brother in law's farm today, his dogs where barking like lunatics at a stack of palettes and there was a loud high pitched screeching. I ignored it for a while, but eventually went to take a look.

There was some kind of a stoat or weasel or mink or something cowering in the middie of the palettes. The dogs couldn't get near it, but it clearly wasn't happy. I put the dogs away, hoping that in there absense it would move on and hung around for a while to take a few snaps with my Fuji (attached).

Any ideas what this is, is it dangerous?

MDR

attachments in this reply

Dusty87

Cant see the pics? Did you upload them or is it my computer acting the mink??

MDR

In the reply above

Dusty87

2nd one looks like a polecat ferret ha ha. Looks like a well fed mink. They are brave and dont seem to be afraid of humans that much. Can bite when cornered like anythin. I hate them though. Fairly destructive little boyo's.

MDR

gosh ... would be worried if its a mink, brother in law is in the chicken business.

Dusty87

MDR wrote: »

gosh ... would be worried if its a mink, brother in law is in the chicken business.

Well bein honest, im on the mobile phone internet, so picture not great, but it looks like a mink. God there terrible wit chickens. If there's a week link in the chicken run they'l find it. Thankfully iv only lost one turkey to mink. We disturbed the mink so it didn get time to kill it. It died later though. That was in the evening. They wil kill the chickens and just leave them there!!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

It's a Mink.

stevoman

Gannon Enough Redwood wrote: »

It's a Mink.

do you think its quite light coloured for a mink though srameen?

my head is telling me ferret, but they dont survive on the wild whatsoever.

just an odd coloured mink dont you think?

Dusty87

stevoman wrote: »

do you think its quite light coloured for a mink though srameen?

my head is telling me ferret, but they dont survive on the wild whatsoever.

just an odd coloured mink dont you think?

The colours on the face in the second picture looks like a ferret alright. Would you not think its a bit big for a ferret though stevo? If thats a usual sized pallet?

cuddlycavies

Mink

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The colouration of Minks varies quite a bit. I have had pitch black and also positively brown ones in my garden alone. The quality of the photos is certainly not good enough to rule out any disputes on this one but I'd put a fiver on Mink.

MDR

I didn't manage to get a decent photo of it, but it was a kindof gray/blue.

stevoman

Gannon Enough Redwood wrote: »

The colouration of Minks varies quite a bit. I have had pitch black and also positively brown ones in my garden alone. The quality of the photos is certainly not good enough to rule out any disputes on this one but I'd put a fiver on Mink.

i wont dispute it with you

we may be lucky and he might rear his head again for the OP to get some real good pictures of him. until then i'l agree with you and point towards mink.

ThunderCat

Looks like an otter to me. An otter in a mink coat. I have no doubt they'll take over the world soon enough. I for one welcome our otter/mink overlords.

gversey

Defo not a ferret.

meathstevie

It's a mink. Unfortunately you shot it with a Fuji.

mellickricky

count the chickens...that minks had a few....trap the guy...he'd make a good specimen....hes stuffed....he must be expecting a cold few months...:D

Rainbowsend

Must say my first thought was young otter, but they are
very similar, looks a little on the big side for a mink.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I've played about with the photos and, having tried to brighten and sharpen them, I've come round to it being a young Otter.

BryanL

100% a mink

cuddlycavies

Yes 100%

210

This looks like a mink to me - going by the white spot on the chin. It looks very well fed though and could be a bit older. Anyone missing any hens nearby ? Well done on getting the pictures and keeping the fingers.

210

http://www.nonnativespecies.org/documents/Mink,%20American%20(v3b).pdf

Mink V otter data - hope connection works. Mink are widespread in ireland so take dispersion map with a pinch of salt.

cuddlycavies

Funny how you should always go with first instinct on things. You look at the photo and you say mink. Then someone else says maybe otter, and you start to doubt your judgement and look at it differently. Thanks for clearing it up. MINK MINK MINK.

Noreen1

Definitely a mink.
Vicious little beggars! Pity you didn't have something a bit more powerful than a camera to shoot it with - the little brutes are decimating our otter population!


Noreen

sesswhat

Noreen1 wrote: »

Definitely a mink.
Vicious little beggars! Pity you didn't have something a bit more powerful than a camera to shoot it with - the little brutes are decimating our otter population!


Noreen

As an 'outsider', the mink was always going to get a bad press. When it comes to the decline of otter numbers though, you may be looking at the wrong species. The biggest threats to otters have been things like water pollution from farming practices and industry, as well as clearing of vegetation and human disturbance to habitat.

The good news is 'You can still hate them anyway!!!'. The vicious little beggar/brute within us all means we don't actually need a reason.

neil_hosey

sesswhat wrote: »

As an 'outsider', the mink was always going to get a bad press. When it comes to the decline of otter numbers though, you may be looking at the wrong species. The biggest threats to otters have been things like water pollution from farming practices and industry, as well as clearing of vegetation and human disturbance to habitat.

The good news is 'You can still hate them anyway!!!'. The vicious little beggar/brute within us all means we don't actually need a reason.

well said

210

Heres a shortcut to a little bit of video I took of a mink caught after a raid on a hen house. The little blighter almost looks friendly enough to pick up and play but having to scrape up the remnants of his nightime attack I didnt wonder about the friendlyness of this savage little predator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkHP3OAf39g

I think this one was just a juvenile.

Kess73

That is a lovely mink.

I can see where the confusion about it being a young otter is coming from though. One of the pics does have an otter like look to it.

I have to say I quite like the mink, and there is a lovely family of them in one of the Tetrads that I cover for the BTO. Earlier in the year I would spend time watching them and their young scampering along the river bank and learning how to fish.

Kess73

Noreen1 wrote: »

Definitely a mink.
Vicious little beggars! Pity you didn't have something a bit more powerful than a camera to shoot it with - the little brutes are decimating our otter population!


Noreen

Where have you gotten that from?

Minks are not decimating the otter population, and never have. That was always just a convinient excuse for some parties to kill and skin mink.

Otters kill mink and go out of their way to do so. And one of the best lures that illegal trappers used/use to catch otters is either a live mink or mink scent.

At the start of this decade there was a massive slump in mink numbers both here and in the UK, that coincided with the increase in otter numbers.

What all this has done is save the water rat, as the minks were having a massive impact on their numbers as they killed and fed on water rats.

The otter numbers came back up, and they in turn killed and fed on the minks and the rat numbers in areas that used to have mink have exploded again.

Whoever has told you that Mink have been wiping out otters has been telling you porkies.

The biggest threat to otters has never changed, and it is man, through hunting and pollution.