Trapping

We head out into the marsh at sunset during the highest tide of the month and use spotlights to find the mink. We need tides of 6.5 or higher so we can see through the marsh grass and spot their eyeshine. If it is a family group (a female with kits - typically 3-5, although we have found 2 females with 7), the female will grab one of her kits and bolt off when we pull up. We take the remaining kits, put them in a trap that is zip-tied to another trap and wait for her to come back. Once we have her, we search for the kit she ran off with, and we transfer the whole family into a holding cage.

The males are very difficult to catch. We have been unable to catch one this time, but we will try again on the next highest tide of June. We did catch and implant 3 females (Mela with 3 kits, Cleo with 3 kits, and Camilla with 7 kits).

Mela after surgery with her white ear tags

Releasing Mela: She bolted from the hide tube (a piece of pvc pipe) before I could start recording, but you can hear her kits.

My professor jumped out of the boat and set out into the marsh to check a trap. The female managed to remove all 7 of her kits from the trap without being caught herself. That's Michael and I laughing in the background...not really sure why I found this completely hilarious. He jumped out after many more mink in the days following this. Can't thank him enough for that!