Many of those ranched mink "freed from captivity" by the animal rights groups have gone and done what mink do all to well - reproduced like.......mink! Of course with no natural predators and being the opportunistic hunters that they are, the mink are now a growing environmental problem for many indigenous species. I wonder what the animal liberationists will say for their environmentally irresponsible actions.

Last line of the story is particularly interesting, seeing as the best (but only the best) wild mink pelts get better prices than ranched ones.

"Britain is spending pounds 1.65 million (US$2,350,000) on a program to kill the mink on the Hebridean island of North Uist over the next five years. Belgium is providing half the cash for the Hebridean Mink Eradication Project, and Scottish Natural Heritage putting in pounds 443,000.

After escaping from fur farms on the islands of Harris and Lewis in the 1960s, the mink have established stable populations on North Uist and Benbecula. Current estimates show there are 10,000 breeding females in the Western Isles.

Jeff Watson, northern director of Scottish Natural Heritage, says: "...the only permanent (solution) is complete eradication. This is a huge undertaking. To leave behind just one pregnant female mink could, in theory, result in recolonisation." Scottish Natural Heritage area manager in the Western Isles, David Maclennan, agrees. "The only permanent solution is eradication. This project will be crucial in determining how the much bigger task of wider eradication throughout Lewis and Harris could be approached."

The mink are being killed because they are eating local fish and birds, and thereby harming the tourism and fisheries industries".

An interesting note - trappers say that the fur of the animals who will be killed is worthless because the animals are wild.