As the title says, is there no interest (or ever been) in joining the EEP for European mink? Looking at zootiereliste, there is no record of a historical holding? Is it down to the nature of this secretive mustelid that makes it a non starter as an exhibit? Are there any in private hands?
As I have noted in the past, this taxon is one which I dearly believe collections within the UK really should look into obtaining; it is a species of significant conservation priority, and as a native of Europe highlighting the plight of this species could very easily be used to bring home the reality of the threats facing species across the world, showing visitors to collections that these threats are not nebulous and far-distant, but exist within Europe too. To my knowledge, none exist in private collections within the UK.
With their white nose they're quite charismatic as well. In the UK we're so used to being told how the American variant is a pest that I think you could make a very interesting educational exhibit about the lesser known European Mink.
This situation will hopefully be changing very soon! The small carnivore TAG are starting a 'Think mink' campaign this autumn to encourage the exhibition of Our number one priority species! There are none in private hands.
