Hunts are still menacing minks and otters across England and Wales

Mink hunting is not conservation...

Photo by Alexandre Daoust on Unsplash

Mink hunting season is underway and sabs and monitors have been busy ensuring that the UK's remaining mink hunts are unable to reach their prey.

Minks are hunted from March all the way through to September, coinciding with their breeding season. Hunts often leave young mink - known as kits - motherless and sure to perish.

What's a mink hunt anyway?

The UK's mink hunts are the successor to the banned otter hunts, which were disbanded after that species was declared endangered. After the ban in 1978, several otter hunts took to hunting mink, whose river habitats are similar to otters. Mink, who live in rabbit burrows, tree roots and brush along waterways, established themselves in the UK in the 1950s after being released from fur farms.

Hunting mink with dogs is illegal, as is hunting any mammal with hounds. Although otter hunting is banned, mink hunts frequently hunt and kill otters too. For example, on 2 September 2024 terrierman Darren Fisher was convicted under the Wildlife and Countryside Act after police raided his house and found a dead otter in his freezer.

Conducting 'surveys'?

Mink hunts operate by thrashing through vegetation along waterways, accompanied by dogs. Protect the Wild has previously described the process of mink hunting in detail, explaining:

“If the mink goes to ground in a hole or amongst roots then terriers will be deployed to flush the mammal out. If the mink takes refuge up a tree then the hunt and its followers will try to knock the mink from the tree using poles or even by throwing objects.”

Mink packs don't only harm wildlife, but also damage river ecosystems. The hunts march along the riverside with dogs in tow thrashing trees with poles and digging out holes, destroying precious habitats as they go. Last year North Dorset Hunt Sabs were on the tail of the Courtenay Tracy Minkhounds in Dorset and reported the disturbing of nesting moorhens and swans with cygnets.

Mink hunts try to masquerade as just 'doing surveys', but their telescopic poles are tell-tale signs that they plan on killing. On top of this, sabs have gathered ample photographic evidence that both mink and otters are killed.

Dove Valley Mink Hounds' huntsman Will Shaw after being sent packing by sabs - via Northants Hunt Saboteurs[/caption]

On 14 June the Dove Valley Mink Hounds was sabbed by members of Sheffield, Nottingham and West Yorkshire Hunt Sabs. The hunt, which was meeting in Tollgate Business Park near Rugely, packed up as soon as they saw they were being observed. Sheffield Hunt Sabs wrote:

"Apparently, the locals around there go for their dog walks carrying telescopic poles in large groups with a trailer full of hounds, who knew!"

Dove Valley Mink Hounds beating a hasty retreat - Via Sheffield Hunt Sabs

That same day, members of Two Counties Hunt Saboteurs and Weymouth Animal Rights got a tip off that Courtenay Tracy Mink Hounds were in action near a waterway at Cale Bridge near Marnhill. Tony Smart, a notoriously violent veteran mink hunter, tried to block sabs efforts. However, once the Sabs' 'eye in the sky' was in place, the Courtenay Tracy were soon persuaded to call it a day.

Mink hunts repeatedly giving up when sabs arrive

The story was similarly successful on 31 May when sabs from Sheffield, Nottingham and Northants searched out the same mink hunt near Derby. Dove Valley's crew were spotted near a waterway with a teenager carrying their telescopic pole. Sabs swiftly got a drone up in the sky to monitor them and another group to track them on the ground. The hunt decided it wasn't worth it and packed away their things once more.

Dove Valley Mink Hounds near Derby - via Sheffield Hunt Sabs

To give just one more example, on 10 May the Dove Valley Mink Hounds were forced to retreat again at Field, near Uttoxeter. This time by sabs and monitors from Welsh Border Wildlife Protectors, Nottingham Hunt Saboteurs, West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs, Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs, West Yorkshire Hunt Saboteurs (WYHS) and Manchester Hunt Saboteurs (MHS).

WYHS pointed out that the day was "very successful, if rather uneventful" as when sabs "filed into the fields south of Field the hunt felt it best to finish hunting and flee back to the Farmyard at Field Hall, from where they simply went back home."

MHS wrote about why they think it’s important to sab mink hunts:

"Yes, mink are non-native—but blaming them for the decline of wildlife while ignoring the sheer scale of destruction caused by human activity is dishonest. The biggest threats to water voles, birds, fish, and ecosystems are pollution, habitat loss from agriculture, animal farming, river dredging, shooting, and fishing—not a few mink trying to survive.

And let’s be clear: mink hunting isn’t about conservation—it’s a bloodsport. Hounds are sent into the undergrowth to tear apart these animals as they desperately try to escape. It's barbaric. Just like fox hunting, it’s defended under the lie of wildlife protection while ignoring the suffering it causes.

We sab mink hunts because no animal deserves to be hunted down and killed for human amusement or convenience. Whether they were born here or brought here, they have a right to life—and we’ll always stand in the way of those trying to take it from them."

Conservation?

Mink hunting may be a dying blood sport. But there are at least six mink packs remaining in the UK, all of them in England and Wales. Many hunting advocates will say that mink are an invasive species in the UK and hunting them has a positive conservation impact. Mink populations do prey on Water Voles, and Water Vole populations are demonstrably dropping in the UK. But, as Protect the Wild has already pointed out:

“While it’s clear that minks have impacted Water Vole, it’s also true to say that during the same period there has been massive wetland habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation due to damaging riparian management (for example ‘hard’ river engineering techniques), and over-grazing by livestock.”

However, mink numbers are dropping naturally anyway due to the increase in otter populations, following the ban on hunting them. We don't need more cruelty to protect our waterways!

The answer to improving the environment for Water Voles and other river species lies in improving our rivers, not hunting mink. Campaign groups such as Surfers Against Sewage and charities like the Rivers Trust have documented the staggering decline in water quality in the UK over the past decade or so. Raw sewage is released regularly into our rivers along with increasing amounts of run-off from pesticides. The Rivers Trust says in its 2024 Report ‘State of our Rivers’ that “No single stretch of river in England or Northern Ireland is in good overall health“.

One way to improve the condition of our rivers is by reintroducing beavers to our waterways. Beavers help to create habitats for otters by constructing dams and help build resilience to droughts too. Beaver activity creates marshes, which are important habitats for otters and frogs. The dams, pools and clearings created by beavers making their homes also play a role in conserving water and mitigates against water scarcity at times of drought, which are increasingly frequent due to the onset of climate change. Beaver habitats are great homes for Water Voles too.

One bit of good news is that beavers, which were extinct in the UK for over 400 years, are being slowly reintroduced. In 2024, the National Trust released a pair of beavers into the Purbeck Heaths in Dorset. Check out this explainer video from Protect the Wild's Rob Pownall:

We need nature-centred solutions to protect our rivers, not the cruelty masquerading as conservation advocated by the supporters of mink-hunting. Support your local sabs and monitors to put an end to this cruel bloodsport once and for all.

• Read our explainer on mink hunting

• Check out this report from last 'season'

• Send a donation to Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs

• Donate to Northants Hunt Saboteurs

• Read the Hunt Saboteurs Association's account of the historic campaign against the Ytene Mink Hunt

Beaver photo by Francesco Ungaro via Unsplash