# I need to kill this mink...



## Alexz7272 (Oct 26, 2016)

So the mink couldn't get anymore of my birds so it attacked my rabbits. It chewed through some wire and took one but mained her.  How do I help her? Her eye is completely gone. Thank you....


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## Bruce (Oct 26, 2016)

That is AWFUL!!! 

Don't know what to do for the rabbit. Others will I'm sure. I guess I would do antibiotics in any case.

What kind of wire and how big an area do you need to reinforce? I suppose with time a mink could chew through 1/2" hardware cloth, I don't know. How about some 1"x2" fencing? It tends to be 14 gauge so thicker than hardware cloth (usually 19 gauge) and I think the holes would be too small for a mink.

I found this, looks like you can use a large size Havahart trap. The article suggests making an artificial tunnel covered with rocks/grasses to make it look more natural (then SSS):

https://poultrykeeper.com/pests-and-predators/mink-trapping-tips-for-poultry-keepers/


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## micah wotring (Oct 26, 2016)

Oh, man, IDK. Hope she heals up.
@Pastor Dave @Hens and Roos @Bunnylady


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## NH homesteader (Oct 26, 2016)

Miserable mink!  I hope it ahem,  miraculously disappears for you (shoot it!)


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## farmerjan (Oct 26, 2016)

Bruce a mink could go through 1x2 holes fairly easily.
There is an ol timers way of getting a mink that I tried once and it worked ...but... You need a gallon  GLASS  cider jug with the top a little bigger than the ones I"ve seen lately. About 2 - inches inside diameter hole.  You bury it in the ground 3/4 way up and put a couple of sardines in it. The idea of burying it is to prevent it from getting tipped over and being dark inside. Nothing much can get in it except a mink which will get through most any hole there is.  Once they get in it going after the sardines, they cannot get themselves back out as there is nothing to use to help push themselves back up out of the hole and it is too narrow for them to grab and pull because of the narrow space.  You also could try a havahart with sardines but have to put it where cats and other animals can't get caught in it.  And make sure you weigh it down so it cannot get tipped over and/or covered up some so that it is "darker" inside it


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## animalmom (Oct 26, 2016)

I'm so sorry you are having such a problem with that mink.  It really did a number on your rabbit.

If it was mine, I'd be sitting at the Vet's office.  The rabbit can easily live without the eye, but you don't know what nastiness may have been in the mink's mouth so just throwing antibiotics at the rabbit would be hit or miss.

How is the rabbit doing?  Moving around?  Drinking?  I'd be worried about shock.

That mink needs to be re-homed in the netherworld, way past the River Styx... maybe a blazing Viking funeral too.


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## babsbag (Oct 26, 2016)

Do mink carry rabies?  Poor bunny, it must have been terrified. Hope you get that mink. Is there a state trapper you might be able to contact?


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## cjc (Oct 26, 2016)

Oh no!!!! Poor thing


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## Alexz7272 (Oct 26, 2016)

I'll be replacing this bottom this afternoon. It was such a tiny hole, I am amazed


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## Alexz7272 (Oct 26, 2016)




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## Alexz7272 (Oct 26, 2016)

Besides missing her eye and the injury, she is acting 'normal' 
Would an antiseptic spray then an antibiotic ointment do for now? I dont know if I should cut the 'dangly' part off, any recommendations for local anesthesia? I am headed to the farm store now. Thank you


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## Alexz7272 (Oct 26, 2016)

@babsbag She is actually acting normal almost 100% which puts ME in shock. Cuddling up a bit more but eating, drinking and playing normally.


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## TAH (Oct 26, 2016)

Poor bunny


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## Bruce (Oct 26, 2016)

Um, I missed the part where she lost an eye AND an ear???

Looks like maybe the mink found an existing break in the HC and came through. Maybe it didn't have to chew the HC?  I hope that is the case because I, like many, figure well attached and structurally sound HC will keep out most anything that isn't super serious due to starvation or something.


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## Alexz7272 (Oct 26, 2016)

@Bruce  she actually was already missing an ear, heh. She lost it as a baby apparently, she was like that when I got her. 
I know the cloth was older but not bad enough to tear open. I THOUGHT. Apparently I was wrong, will be replacing it today.


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## samssimonsays (Oct 26, 2016)

I would bring her to a vet. The bacteria in the saliva is definitely not something to mess around with. DO NOT cut anything off of her. It needs to come off but a vet needs to do it. Rabbits are very touchy with anestesia and they need special ones. There are also only a handful of antibiotics that are safe for rabbits that I have only been able to find at the vets. Baytril being one of the most common.


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## Alexz7272 (Oct 26, 2016)

Looks like euthanasia will be the best bet then. I called around, every place wants $80-$100 to see her and then antibiotics costs of course. She WAS intended as a meat rabbit, I cannot justify that amount of money on a rabbit. I love and care about all my livestock but in this case, that money would definitely more help elsewhere


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## frustratedearthmother (Oct 26, 2016)

Alexz7272 said:


> Looks like euthanasia will be the best bet then


Sad, but sounds like the best option for her and you.


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## NH homesteader (Oct 26, 2016)

Unfortunately it does.  Ugh so sorry. We had to do the same with meat birds that were bitten by rats.  Just because you don't know what diseases those nasty things have. Bunnies are way cuter and more loveable but stinks losing animals nonetheless. 

So sorry


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## Hens and Roos (Oct 26, 2016)

so sorry to hear


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## samssimonsays (Oct 26, 2016)

So sorry to hear  She was loved and this decision was made out of love, she will know that and so will you.


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## Bruce (Oct 26, 2016)

As the others said. Hard to do but like you, I can't see spending a ton of money on a non pet (and I choke down the cost of insulin for the cat!). Since your rabbit WAS destined to be dinner one day, all the more reason.

One of my 4 Y/O Black Australorps has a growth of some sort. Favorite bird, most personality. DD1 thinks I should take her to the vet. Sorry, not spending that kind of money and who knows how long she would live if they DID do something. For now she is her happy go lucky self and has been since it was discovered in early summer. Brought her back from probable death with a course of "hit and hope" antibiotics and nutridrench. But I expect at some point I will have to make the same hard decision you have made.

 from me too.

Now go trap that mink and put it where IT belongs.


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## Green Acres Farm (Oct 26, 2016)

So sorry about your rabbit.

I don't think injectable lidocaine or other injectable types of local anesthesia are available over the counter and there are dangers if you don't give the right kind, %, or dosage, or if you inject into the wrong place, etc.


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## farmerjan (Oct 26, 2016)

Are you sure it was a mink and not a weasel?  They are as destructive or more so and can get in and out of most any hole you can imagine.  The cider/vinegar jar as a trap is supposed to work for either that I mentioned before.  Also, the hole didn't look as small as some I have seen them go through.  Is there a possibility that it was a coon that got a hold of her and couldn't get it pulled apart anymore and did the damage that way?  Coons have gotten a hold of chickens through the wire before and done major damage but weren't able to kill them. I doubt either a mink or weasel would have left her alive.


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## Bruce (Oct 26, 2016)

A coon could likely squeeze through that hole as well. Amazing how "small" they can get. And since there appears to be a chicken below the hole, it seems high enough up that a coon couldn't reach down and grab a rabbit. I doubt a coon would take just an eye.


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## TAH (Oct 26, 2016)




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## Alexz7272 (Oct 26, 2016)

@farmerjan It very well could be a weasal. Its just so hard to figure out. I have it on sievelike camera, I'll try to get a screenshot shortly. I've always seen raccoons on the cameras and have literally 4 traps out that have caught lots of them but maybe one was smart. But we just enhanced the electrical more and couldn't see how one would've gotten up and over that. A mink or weasel could've more then likely. 
One of my rabbits is just gone. So I assume it just took her away and that is why it left her with just the eye injury. Arghhh, I am so frustrated about the whole situation honestly.


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## farmerjan (Oct 26, 2016)

Didn't realize that one rabbit was gone and this one was injured. Must've missed that.  Both are in the same family and they are killing machines.  Good luck.


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## babsbag (Oct 26, 2016)

@Alexz7272  I understand the frustration. My chicken flock has taken a huge hit this year.  Do you have an LGD on your farm? If not, it might be time.


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## Bruce (Oct 26, 2016)

Hmmm, don't know about minks but I understand that the weasel's MO is to hop on a chicken's back at night and "vampire" blood from its neck. No missing bodies, just a lot of them under the roost. Not sure what one would do with a rabbit. 

Coons typically eat the head and crop of the chicken and leave the rest. I sadly saw the result of that. Again, not sure what a coon would do with a rabbit.


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## Latestarter (Oct 27, 2016)

Sounds like a weasel or mink. There might have already been a small tear in the HWC and it may have been weakened with age and the predator just pushed it open enough to get through. Sorry you're dealing with it.


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## micah wotring (Oct 27, 2016)

Oh, shoot. That sucks. I hate it when that kind of stuff happens.  Hope you're able to get that mink! Or whatever the little stinker was.


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## carrie palmer (Nov 11, 2016)

If you wish to dispatch the mink alive use  a live trap. Find asuitable spot, dig  ahole, secure the cage and camouflage it, ste the trap and pplace the bait, check in the morning


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