Nature: Here's how the Ohio Wildlife Center helped rehabilitate 2 baby minks

 

A newly released male mink gets his bearings/Jim McCormac

Nature: Here's how the Ohio Wildlife Center helped rehabilitate 2 baby minks

Columbus Dispatch
August 20, 2023

NATURE

Jim McCormac

No one in the world needs a mink coat but a mink. — Murray Banks

Of Ohio’s 54 extant native mammal species, perhaps none eclipse the Mustelidae family in charisma and interesting behavior. This group includes the badger, river otter, three species of weasels, and the American mink.

The mink is the world’s best-known furbearer, and it occurs throughout Ohio. Minks are coveted worldwide for their silken, lustrous fur, and coats made of mink remain a major status symbol. High-end mink coats can fetch five figures or more.

From the 1930s into the 1990s, over 10,000 minks were trapped each year in Ohio. Today, only a fraction of that number is trapped. Most mink fur now comes from mink farming. This is an abominable practice that entails selective breeding of a mammal ill-suited for captivity purely to cater to fashion whims. Cruelty driven by vanity.

Minks frequent stream banks and pond margins. A mink in motion is a sight to see. It resembles a mammalian Slinky, moving in gracefully fluid undulating bounds. While largely nocturnal and seldom seen, minks are big enough to notice: A male might stretch to 2 feet and weigh over 2 pounds.

As with most of their weasel brethren, minks are ferocious hunters. Fish are a dietary staple, and minks will plunge to depths of up to 15 feet to capture piscine prey. They’ll also catch small mammals — baby rabbits and muskrat are favorites — and songbirds. Victims are rapidly dispatched with a pinch on the neck like Mr. Spock — a rapid powerful bite to the vertebrae. Turnabout is fair play, and a common predator of minks is the great horned owl, one of its few mortal enemies.

When males hook up with females from late winter to early spring, they establish a streambank burrow in which to raise their pups. The average litter is 4-5 pups, although ambitious parents may occasionally have up to 10. The pups need intensive parental care for nearly two months, with most food caught for them. After about two months, the pups begin to learn hunting skills from their parents and are on their own by early fall.

I was pleased to receive word a few weeks back from Gwen Hoogendoorn about a pair of minks that she was looking to release. The two unrelated young males were taken to the Ohio Wildlife Center (OWC) back in May, after their parents had been killed by dogs. The OWC is the largest rehabilitator of wild animals in the state, accepting over 7,500 animals involving around 175 species annually.

Gwen, a lieutenant colonel in the Ohio National Guard and vice president of the Ohio Wildlife Rehabilitators Association, has volunteered for the OWC for over 20 years. She fosters myriad animals each year until they are ready for release. Gwen received the minks when they were about five weeks old and eyes barely open. Good care, lots of nutrition, and a safe environment, and come mid-August the minks were ready to strike out on their own.

I suggested Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park as a potential release site, and Metro Park authorities approved the project. On Aug. 10, Gwen and the minks met me, ranger Elaine Hall and other interested observers at the park. Minks in a box, we traipsed far out into the largest prairie restoration project in Central Ohio, sidestepping scores of leopard frogs along the way.

At first, the minks were tentative about leaving the confines of their shelter, but one soon emerged and took to the waters of an adjacent wetland like a fish. Baby minks must learn about water from their parents, but Hoogendoorn had gradually acclimated them to water while they were in her care. The young minks frolicked like otters, and even caught a frog. The other minks soon exited and joined its buddy in racing through the vegetation.

These two minks will soon go their separate ways, but they’re in excellent habitat filled with prey: fish, frogs, muskrats, voles and other mink delicacies. They will become part of the ecological web of one of Ohio’s greatest remaining prairies.

The Ohio Wildlife Center deserves kudos for its tireless work in caring for animals that, in most cases, have been orphaned or injured by peoples’ activities. Whenever possible, and that’s in the great majority of cases, successfully rehabbed animals are released as these minks were.

For more information about the Ohio Wildlife Center, visit: ohiowildlifecenter.org.

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature atjimmccormac.blogspot.com.