Water voles declined catastrophically due to American mink and habitat loss. Reintroduction programmes are bringing them back, with welfare considerations central to success.
Water vole reintroduction welfare involves two competing welfare concerns: the stress and mortality costs to reintroduced voles, and the welfare of mink in control programmes. Reintroduced voles face predation, starvation, and territorial conflict in their first weeks - mortality rates can be high. Trappers managing mink for vole conservation must use approved humane trapping methods. The net welfare benefit of successful reintroduction - hundreds of voles living in restored habitat - generally outweighs the costs when programmes are well designed.