Mink
Last Update/Review: June 3, 2002
Mustela vison
The mink is a semiaquatic weasel. Its diet includes muskrat, fish, ducks and other small birds and rodents. It hunts at night and is seldom seen far from watercourses in the mixedwood, foothill and montane zones. The mink weighs about 1 kilogram and is 65-75 centimetres in length.
Mink use musk to mark their territories. Although the musk smells worse than that of a skunk, it cannot be sprayed for defence.
Mating generally occurs in March and five to six young are born in May, usually in an abandoned muskrat den.
Trapping
In 2000-2001, Alberta trappers produced 828 mink pelts at a mean price of $16.17 per pelt, or a total production for the province of $13 389.
Mink are trapped from early November to late January. Pelts are in their prime from mid-November to late December.
