American mink, escaped from fur farms, have decimated water vole populations across Britain, creating a conservation crisis with welfare implications for both predator and prey.
The mink-water vole welfare conflict is a product of human action: fur farm escapes created the invasive predator that is eliminating a native prey species. Individual water voles exposed to mink exhibit chronic stress responses from scent cues alone — a welfare harm that affects their entire lives in mink-occupied territories. Mink control kills individual mink, imposing welfare harm, but prevents the ongoing welfare harm of perpetual predation pressure and population extinction. The human responsibility for creating this conflict makes the welfare cost of control justifiable.