YAKUTSK, November 1. /TASS/. The number of American mink, previously released in Yakutia, has increased 6.5 times since the 1960s, thus threatening the region’s native animal species. Unlimited mink hunting can cope with the risks, the director of the Institute of Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone (Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) told TASS.

It has been more than five decades since the American mink was first released into the wild in Yakutia. Since then, the habitat has expanded to the northeast of the region by about 150,000 square kilometers. More than 35 years after 1964, the population grew between 4,000 and 5,000 inhabitants. In 2023, the species was included in the Russian list of the 100 most dangerous exotic organisms.

“The trend of habitat expansion persists. The danger is that this is an acclimatized exotic species. It can become invasive and cause damage to native animals by competing with them. In the central districts of Yakutia, the American mink destroys nests of ducks and other animals near water. “I think it is necessary to allow unlimited hunting. Currently, hunting is authorized for a limited time,” said the scientist.

Protected status

According to the Yakutia environmental authority, mink have been reported in 11 districts. The current hunting season is from October 15 to February 28.

Hunting expert Artur Dmitriev shares the opinion expressed by the scientist. “Of course, we have to revoke the protected status. Unlike other introduced species, such as the muskrat, the American mink is expanding its habitat. The species is more of a pest that has no commercial value. Anyway, It is necessary to protect the regulated population,” he stated.

The history of the settlement.

The American mink was first brought to the Soviet Union in 1923 to be raised on fur farms. After 2028, the American mink began to settle in the wild in the country. In the early 1960s, 686 mink were released in the southern and southwestern parts of Yakutia: along the Tokko, Olekma, Pilka and Aldan rivers.

In 1959-1966, they were raised on farms in Yakutia until there was insufficient food supply. At the same time, the introduced American mink has successfully naturalized in many regions of Russia.

Previously, European ecologists found that the habitat of invasive American minks, capable of spreading the coronavirus, had expanded significantly over the past 15 years in virtually every country on the subcontinent, and those animals now dominate the ecosystems of 12 European states. Animals can be infected with both the coronavirus and bird flu and can quickly spread both pathogens throughout their populations, scientists say. American minks also transmit canine plague and viral plasmacytosis, making them especially dangerous to other European mammals.