That's No Cat My Sweetie-Pie

Vintage photo of a woman with her mink. Furs were more socially acceptable back then.

A lovely, healthy-looking mink made its way through our back yard and up on our deck, not more than 15 feet away from me.

Pardon the blurry shot.

 I scared it away with my picture taking but not before it stopped to have a sip of pool water. Later he returned with a big goldfish in his mouth from our neighbour's decorative lily pond. Wendy called Gwyn and she said she hadn't seen the culprit before but she had heard he was an escapee from an illegal subdivision mink operation. Then she said "Oh God what next!"

A mink stole may be stylish, but a live American mink can be an ecological nightmare. The carnivores have invaded habitats around the world, wiping out everything from native seabirds to fish. Since our Point Edward condo is located in a marina, we have noticed a number of these slinky animals while boating around the area. Here is a good read about how they have dealt with the problem in Scotland:
http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2010/11/mink-vs-vole/

If you are curious, here is the auction price of Mink pelts recently:
http://trappingtoday.com/index.php/category/fur-prices/
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