Wildlife

Wild Water Vole Conservation and Welfare

Water voles are Britain's fastest declining wild mammal, facing threats from American mink predation and habitat loss requiring coordinated conservation.

Key Facts

Water vole populations have declined by 90% since the 1970s
American mink, introduced to the UK for fur farming, are the primary predator
Mink control programmes using rafts and traps reduce predation pressure significantly
Bankside vegetation management maintains the habitat water voles need for burrows
Reintroduction programmes have restored water voles to sites where they had been lost

Welfare Considerations

Water voles preyed on by mink experience acute terror and death. The scale of predation from a single mink family can wipe out a local population within a season. Mink control, while itself involving welfare costs through trapping, prevents the ongoing predation of a native species by an invasive predator. Habitat management that provides dense bankside vegetation also improves individual water vole welfare by providing cover from aerial predators.

What You Can Do

Support the People's Trust for Endangered Species water vole conservation programme
Report water vole sightings and mink sightings to local wildlife trusts
Advocate for mink control programmes to be funded as standard conservation practice