We are expecting the birth of 10-12 litters this year! The first squeaking sounds from newborns were heard from Saarepiiga’s nest on the 9th of May. Now we know that she delivered 4 pups – all girls. For now, seven litters have been checked and most of them contain 2 or 4 pups. This years surprise was from Spanish mink Lillet who managed to give birth to 6 pups! This is quite interesting as the breeding center in Spain has not yet had a litter bigger than 5 pups.

Photo: On the left two 10 day old pups and on the right a 30 day old pup.

The annual monitoring of the status of European mink population in Hiiumaa has revealed that the population abundance has remained stable for the last years, even though there haven’t been any additional releases to the island since 2017. Besides the fact that the island was hit by an extreme drought and the number of small mammals was critically low last year, which made it a real survival challange for the minks, we were able to catch 10 minks during the last monitoring period. And the best news – they were all wild born animals! Out of those 10 (1F, 8M, 1?), one mink was actually caught for the second time, the first time being during 2017 monitoring. This gives us some reassurance that the mink are doing fine on the island.

GaiaZOO & EAZA Small Carnivore TAG organised the 1st International Small Carnivore Workshop during 20-22 of March 2019. The days were full of interesting and practical presentations about the endangered small carnivore husbandry and conservation, including a keynote speech about the European mink.

We would like to send our very special thanks to GaiaZOO, who has sold European mink charity pins throughout the year and collected 10 000€ for the European mink conservation and an additional 1500€ during a silent auction at the workshop. You have been wonderful partners and a great help to us!

We are happy to announce that in 2018, a grand total of 23 326,91 Euros was collected from the sales of non-profit merchandise and donations. This is almost double the amount of 2017. Furthermore, donations for conservation of endangered species have increased every year.

Find out in more detail about the money collected here!

Second European mink newsletter has arrived. It gives an overview what has been done in 2018 for the worlds most critically endangered small carnivore in various European countries (Estonia, France, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands and Romania).

Check out the newsletter here.

Tallinn zoo started to build a new breeding facility for the European mink. Currently used mink enclosures were built 20 years ago and needed to be replaced.

The new facility, which is located at a remote area in the zoo, will have five enclosure modules with 20 breeding pens (100 in total). In addition to the main enclosures, there will be four bigger pre-release enclosures at the end of four modules and a maintenance area for the mink keepers in the middle of the facility.

The construction work should end in June 2019.

Construction site of the European mink breeding facility in Tallinn Zoo

Looking for a christmas present? Check out what we sell at our webshop HERE! For example, you can buy cool and practical European mink themed merchandise! All proceeds go to a species protection charity.

Through Lutreola, everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the protection of endangered animals by making a donation or buying our merchandise.

SA LUTREOLA
IBAN: EE692200221012181039

Swedbank
Liivalaia 8
15040 Tallinn
SWIFT: HABAEE2X

Please mention the species whose protection you wish to support in the payment (European mink, rhino, snow leopard, amur leopard or tiger).

Tallinn Zoo’s first European mink drawing contest received 131 pictures from children aged 3 to 14. All drawings were divided into five age groups and the best got awarded. And not only that, the awarded pictures will also be added to a new European mink charity notebooks, which can be purchased from Species Conservation Boutique next year.

Winners

3-4 year olds: Roman Alfjorov

5-6 year olds: Emily Gornischeff

7-8 year olds: Eliise Aus

9-10 year olds: Anastassia Pikkov

11-14 year olds: Meeri Liisu Laanekivi

Noted drawings

5-6 year olds: Genrih-Makar Gluškov

7-8 aastased: Mihkel Radala

7-8 year olds: Stella Juur

9-10 year olds: Liisa Orutalu

This year we celebrated the European Mink Day for the third time in Tallinn Zoo and it was a great success. There were a lot of activities for everyone.

Drawing contest– Since we have about 100 minks at Tallinn Zoo and we also celebrated Estonia’s 100^thAnniversary of Independence this year, we decided to name our drawing contest “Estonia’s 100 minks”. We invited schools, kindergartens (children aged 3-18) and also adults to participate. The best pictures will be added to new European mink charity notebooks and can be purchased from Species Conservation Boutique next year.

Drawing and crafts activities for smaller children

Excursions to the European Mink Breeding Center (which is a restricted area, where zoo visitors normally can’t go)

Mink radio tracking– Visitors had to find a mink mascot (who was carrying a mink radio collar) from the zoo territory. After capturing the “mink” they had to check if it had a transponder (which is an indicator that the animal is not wild born) and take all the necessary measurements (from paws, tail, ears etc.) like the conservation scientists do on the field.

Workshop “Who was eaten by the mink?” – Participants had to go through mink feces to find any remains of its food objects (feathers, small mammal bones, fish scales etc.)

Exhibition about European mink ex situ and in situconservation work

Mustelid trivia evening with the focus on e-mink

Lutreola Species Conservation Boutique charity sale (https://pood.lutreola.eu/en/)

Osta Tallinna loomaaiast vahva kott!

Kõik kottide müügist laekuv tulu läheb vastava liigi kaitsetegevuste toetamiseks.