A wildlife trust reported that a project designed to protect river animals by eradicating large numbers of minks has led to increased water vole populations in the East of England.
According to the BBC, American minks are an invasive species and one of the most significant predators of water voles. Environmental groups say the species is responsible for 97% of water vole population declines in England since the 1950s.
Water voles are an essential part of the river ecosystem, as they, like beavers, are engineers.
These small creatures help manage waterways through burrowing and foraging, which increases biodiversity. As such, the more water voles there are in and around a waterway, the richer the plant life will be. Additionally, their hard work benefits other species, such as bats, birds, and bees.
To help remedy the water voles' precarious situation, the Waterlife Recovery Trust and Essex Wildlife Trust, among other partners, created a program meant to boost the species' numbers.
However, unlike a program to boost water vole numbers in Sussex, Surrey, and Hampshire that involved adding voles to the areas, this effort focused on culling the mink population.
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Darren Tansley of the Essex Wildlife Trust told the BBC, "It's particularly upsetting for us as officers to have to do that sort of work […] But the important thing was to decide, do we want a future where we have mink and very few other species on the river? Or do we remove the mink and allow natural wildlife to rebound and come back in force?"
While Ireland chose to use dogs to help track down and eliminate its mink population, this project utilized smart traps, which had an excluder built in to avoid birds and water voles getting in, to capture the minks.
The Waterlife Recovery Trust also told the BBC that its ultimate goal was to develop an effective mode of control and eradication that it can share with other groups around the country.
For now, though, it's enough for them to see the explosion in the number of water voles and other wildlife returning to the waterways.
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As Tansley explained, "For us, it's the culmination of 25 years of efforts."
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