Water voles have undergone one of Britains most dramatic mammal declines, losing 90% of their population primarily to introduced American mink predation.
Water voles preyed upon by American mink experience acute terror and violent death as the introduced predator represents a novel threat their evolutionary history did not prepare them to evade. Individual animals living in burrow systems threatened by mink experience chronic chronic stress from predation risk. Flooding events and riverside vegetation clearance destroys burrow systems causing displacement and high mortality. Recovery programs that control mink help reduce both the welfare and conservation burden.