The water vole has lost 90% of its population since the 1970s. American mink predation and habitat loss are the twin welfare and conservation crises driving continued decline.
Water voles caught by mink experience acute predation stress and rapid death — a welfare impact impossible to prevent without mink control or predator-free enclosures. The loss of bank-side vegetation from agricultural modification removes shelter and food simultaneously. Reintroduction of water voles without concurrent mink control is rarely successful, illustrating how welfare and conservation interventions must be coordinated.