The Mink
(Mustela vison)

The Definitive Guide to Mink Control and Where to Find a
Wildlife Control Professional!

Are you frustrated and tired of dealing with the Damage caused by WILDLIFE. This site deals with WILDLIFE DAMAGE and steps the "Do it yourselfer" can take to protecting your property from the damage caused by Wildlife in your area.

Don't want to do it yourself? No Problem, we have Wildlife Professionals to help you solve all your wildlife control needs.

Identification

The mink is a member of the weasel family. It is about 18 to 24 inches in length, including the somewhat bushy 5- to 7-inch tail, and weighs 1 1/2 to 3 pounds. 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.

Range

Mink are found throughout North America, with the exception of the desert southwest and tundra areas. Mink are shoreline dwellers and their one basic habitat requirement is a suitable permanent water area. This may be a stream, river, pond, marsh, swamp, or lake. Waters with good populations of fish, frogs, and aquatic invertebrates and with brushy or grassy ungrazed shorelines provide the best mink habitat. Mink use many den sites in the course of their travels and the availability of adequate den sites is a very important habitat consideration. These may be muskrat houses, bank burrows, holes, crevices, log jams, or abandoned beaver lodges.

Damage Caused by Mink

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 Methods

Usually the best solution to mink predation on domestic animals is to physically exclude their entry, sealing all openings larger than 1 inch with wood or tin and by using 1-inch 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.

Mink can most easily be captured in leg hold traps. Some states may have restrictions on shooting mink, although many will make exceptions in damage situations, but this is normally difficult and impractical.

Contact a Wildlife Professional for information on the best method of Control for your area.