Mink numbers to be cut by 90% in Kent
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- Waterlife Recovery Trust received a £20,000 grant from the BASC Wildlife Fund to expand mink trapping and monitoring across Kent, aiming for a 90% population cut within two years.
- Kent once had one of Britain's highest densities of invasive American mink, and the project extends trapping to areas where sightings had been reported but no traps yet existed.
- Conservationists say mink devastate water voles—the UK's fastest-declining mammal—along with ground-nesting birds such as snipe, lapwing, waterfowl, kingfishers and sand martins.
- A similar East Anglia project recorded a 70% year-on-year reduction in mink numbers and led to complete removal of the species from Norfolk, Suffolk and East Cambridgeshire.
- The grant funded 56 smart traps, rafts and other essential equipment for WRT's Kent team, according to project officer Ali Horn.
- Michelle Nudds, BASC's South East regional director, said strong appetite from landowners and volunteers shows the breadth of grassroots support for the work.
Why it matters: If Kent matches the East Anglia precedent—complete mink removal from three counties following a 70% year-on-year drop—water voles, the UK's fastest-declining mammal, and ground-nesting birds gain meaningful protection from a proven local predator. The model demonstrates how a modest £20,000 outlay and 56 smart traps can scale to eliminate an invasive species across a sizable county.
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