American Mink – Neogale vison

The American mink originates from North America and first, it was brought to Fennoscandia in the 1920s, as well as to Finland, as a fur animal. The current American mink population in the wild originates from fur farm escapees, while the native mustelid in Finland, European mink (Mustela lutreola), has been classified as regionally extinct species.

The escapees of American mink soon spread into the wild and the first related observations were recorded in 1932 (Westman 1966). Within a few decades, the species had spread widely throughout Fennoscandia (Kauhala 1998). The rapid dispersal and growth of the mink population is partly explained by Russian plantings in Karelia and the Kola Peninsula in 1934-65. In the 1940s, American mink were mainly found in the vicinity of fur farms on the southwestern and western coast and in the archipelago. In the 1950s it became abundant on the west coast, in the early 1960s on the south coast and, in the 1960s and 1970s in other parts of the country. The increase in the species was monitored, for example, by means of game surveys throughout the country. Today, American minks are found across the country all the way up to northernmost Lapland. Annual catch is about 50,000 individuals.