European mink  (Mustela lutreola)

Populations of the European mink have suffered from a series of ecological and commercial threats (4). Habitat loss is a serious threat to the mink in parts of Europe, where hydroelectric developments and water pollution have increased significantly over the past few decades (7). Another major reason for its decline is commercial trapping for fur (4), even though it is less valuable than the fur of the American mink M. vision (7). In addition, the introduction of this larger species in 1926 has created severe competition with the European mink for food and habitats, and has significantly reduced this native species' population (5). In France yet another threat comes from unintentional poisoning and trapping as a result of efforts to control coypu (Myocastor coypus) populations in the area. Pest control trapping and accidental mortality through vehicle collisions also affects populations in western areas of its range (1).

The range of threats, both commercial and ecological, facing this species, has significantly reduced the mink's population across Europe. In 1994 the IUCN upgraded the status of this species from Vulnerable to Endangered (1). In the early 1990s an international conservation program was set up by several partners across Europe (Ministry of the Environment, French Mammal Society, GREGE, ONC, University of Barcelona and Government of Catalonia) (8). The program's objective was to find priorities for a conservation plan by characterizing the bio-ecology of the species, analyzing causes for its decline and assessing the genetic variability of western populations. A rescue project has also been set up on an island in the Baltic, where the American species has been excluded, in an attempt to increase the European Mink's numbers in captivity (6). In France a national action plan for the conservation of the European mink was initiated by the Ministry of Environment (the first plan ran from 1999 to 2003) and has been coordinated by the SFEPM (French Mammal Society). A second plan will probably begin in 2006, but the SFEPM continues to work on some major activities in the conservation of the European mink (9).