New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
The use of scent glands to improve the efficiency
of mink (Mustela
vison) captures in the Outer Hebrides
S. S. Roy
I. Macleod
N. P. Moore
Central Science Laboratory
Sand Hutton
York, YO41 1LZ
United Kingdom
s.roy@csl.gov.uk
Abstract Introduced invasive
American mink
are
currently posing a threat to endangered bird species on the Western
Isles, an
archipelago off the west coast of Scotland.
As part of a 5-year eradication campaign established in 2001, we
conducted a
small-scale experiment in 2002 and 2003 on six offshore islands,
ranging from 9
to 31 ha. Over 810 trap-nights, 82 live traps were alternately
baited
with mink scent gland extracts or with traditional fish baits. Baiting
traps
with scent gland extracts was significantly more effective than baiting
with
fish. In 2003 a large-scale field trial was carried out over a 900 km2
section of the Western Isles, using either commercially made scent
gland lure
or fish to bait complete trap-lines of 20–35 traps. Trapping with 2154
live
traps over 22 525 trap-nights confirmed the results of the small-scale
experiment, and also showed that the scent lure was equally attractive
to both
male and female mink. The technique is recommended as a means of
improving the
efficiency of individual traps to catch mink. The implications for
large-scale
invasive mustelid eradication programmes are discussed.
Keywords invasive species;
Western Isles;
trapping; eradication;
scent lures; mink; Mustela vison
New Zealand
Journal of Zoology, 2006, Vol. 33: 267–271
0301–4223/06/3304–0267 © The Royal Society
of New Zealand
2006
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