Water voles are one of Britain's fastest-declining mammals, devastated by American mink predation and habitat loss. Their conservation requires active management of both habitat and predator pressure.
Water vole welfare is primarily threatened by predation from American mink. Individual water voles attacked by mink experience significant suffering, and mink predation is thorough - they follow the scent of water voles into burrows, eliminating entire colonies including dependent young. The population-level welfare consequences are extreme. Mink control through humane trapping allows water vole populations to recover, trading the welfare cost of individual mink against the welfare benefit of preventing the ongoing suffering and death of entire water vole populations. Habitat management that maintains tall bankside vegetation provides both nesting resources and some refuge from predation by making mink hunting less efficient.