Sniffer dog recruited to track down mink in East Anglia

18-month-old River began her training at 10 weeks old

A Labrador retriever has been trained to sniff out American mink in a bid to eradicate the non-native species.

River has been recruited by Waterlife Recovery East to track down mink on the River Wensum at Bintree in Norfolk.

The project was set up in 2018 to boost the recovery of endangered species in East Anglia's rivers by trapping and culling the animal.

Mink are thought to be behind an almost 90% decline in UK water vole numbers between 1989 and 1998.

The People's Trust for Endangered Species described this as one of the most serious declines of any wild mammal in Britain during the 20th Century.

River successfully detected two mink on the banks of the Wensum on her first outing

The 18-month-old has been training as a mink sniffer dog since she was 10 weeks old.

Owner Stephen Mace said: "I'm proud that she has now progressed onto more difficult training, including picking out mink alongside other smells like stoat and squirrel - and she receives her favourite ball as a reward."

He is a project officer for the Norfolk Rivers Trust, which is one of a number conservation, farming and wildlife organisations on Waterlife Recovery East's steering group.

Once River has found traces of mink, a floating trap will be put in place and any mink caught will be killed in line with government guidelines.

Mink are thought to be responsible for the dramatic drop in water vole numbers in England's waterways

American mink arrived in the UK in 1929 for fur farming and were first recorded breeding in the wild in 1956, according to the Canal and River Trust.

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Vince Lea, head of wildlife monitoring at the Countryside Restoration Trust, said mink were "excellent hunters, so the increase in populations had caused a serious decline in British river creatures" such as kingfishers and moorhen chicks.

Mink can fit into water vole and king fisher burrows and wipe out whole colonies

Mink are "also hard to find, so River is a very welcome addition to the team", he said.

"Only by removing mink completely can we restore life on our rivers to the well-balanced and biodiverse ecosystem they once were," said Mr Lea.

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