Mink numbers to be cut by 90% in Kent

Mink numbers in Kent could be cut by 90% within two years under a new project aimed at protecting wildlife.

The Waterlife Recovery Trust (WRT) has received a £20,000 grant from the BASC Wildlife Fund to expand trapping and monitoring across Kent, which once had one of Britain's highest densities of invasive American mink.

Conservationists say mink have a devastating impact on other wildlife, with the water vole, the UK's fastest-declining mammal, their main targets.

Minks also prey on ground-nesting birds such as snipe, lapwing and waterfowl, as well as kingfishers and sand martins.

The project in Kent follows a similar one in east Anglia, where there was a 70% year-on-year reduction in mink numbers, leading to the species' complete removal from Norfolk, Suffolk and East Cambridgeshire.

Michelle Nudds, BASC's South East regional director, said: "The appetite from landowners and volunteers across Kent shows just how much support there is for this work on the ground.

"We're looking forward to seeing the results."

Ali Horn, WRT's Kent project officer, said: "It's been great to have extra equipment funded by the BASC Wildlife Fund to cover areas of the county where sightings of mink had been reported but where we didn't yet have traps.

"The grant allowed us to purchase 56 smart traps, rafts and other essential equipment."

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