Cygnet ‘massacre’ blamed on mink set free by activists
MINK released into the wild are massacring large numbers of cygnets born this year at a Dorset sanctuary, it has been claimed.
The small predators, native to America, have menaced wildlife in the county after an animal rights group freed them from a fur farm near Ringwood in Hampshire in 1998.
A volunteer at Abbotsbury sanctuary said newborn cygnets had been hard hit this year, with as many as 70 per cent of those killed said to have fallen victim to mink attacks.
Around 200 cygnets were born, but just 60 remain, she claimed. It is feared mink have had a similarly ruinous effect on the cygnet population of the Thames, with the Queen’s swan marker suggesting the animal may be to blame for a drop in the annual census in 2016.
Christine Langford from East Chinnock, Somerset, told The Daily Telegraph that the high-profile fur farm stunt was still affecting wildlife decades on.
Ms Langlord said: “Last weekend I was volunteering at the Abbotsbury swan-up in Dorset. I was upset to learn that of the 200 cygnets born this year only 60 remain. A shocking 70 per cent were killed by mink – descendants of mink released 20 years ago by the Animal Liberation Front from a fur farm near Ringwood in Hampshire.
“Similar losses have also been seen at the Thames swan-up.”
The biannual event has hundreds of volunteers gathering up swans at Abbotsbury Swannery for them to be checked and measured by vets.
Charlie Wheeler, the manager of the swannery, yesterday disputed the figures cited by Ms Langlord, but said mink were now one of the predators targeting swans.
He said: “We have a normal population of swans here so we have normal predators like crows. Mink, we think, are one of them, it’s one of those things. Mink have been released across the country so there is probably similar situations elsewhere. It is a bit of an iffy subject for everyone.
“They were [released] years ago from the fur farms and being a nonnative species they acclimatised and do well in our environment, our habitat.”
Despite claims that dozens of cygnets had been killed as a result of the mink invasion, Mr Wheeler said the cygnet death toll this year has not been notably higher. “Sometimes we have tonnes of them, sometimes we don’t, it just depends on the year,” he said.
“Any colony in the UK will have numerous young because they know they are going to lose them.”
He added that it was difficult to collate reliable figures on the predators responsible for killing the swans.
On the number of cygnets said to still be alive, he sought to provide reassurance that any massacre was not as drastic as feared.
“It is not that low at all,” he added. The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for smashing cages and cutting wire at the fur farm near Ringwood to release up to 6,000 mink into the surrounding countryside.
sir – Well done, Patrick Galbraith (Comment, July 20), for raising awareness of the devastating outcome of animal rights activists’ actions on rural communities, both human and animal.
I volunteered at the Abbotsbury swan-up in Dorset last week. I was upset to learn that of 200 cygnets born this year, only 60 remain. A shocking 70 per cent were killed by mink – descendants of the mink released 20 years ago by the Animal Liberation Front from a fur farm in Hampshire. Similar losses have been seen at the Thames swan-up.
Christine Langford
Yeovil, Somerset