"US Invaders Threaten Native Scottish Wildlife"

"Growing numbers of non-native crayfish are leading to a “devastating” explosion in the population of destructive American mink in Scotland, experts have warned.

Mink are carefully controlled in many parts of Scotland and have been eradicated from some areas entirely.

But new field research by ecology experts has found the animals are feeding on increasingly abundant supplies of equally invasive North American signal crayfish.

As a result, the mink are bigger and stronger, and the average number of pups born each year has more than doubled, making the population more resilient to culling."

Claire McKim reports for the Edinburgh Scotsman November 10, 2014.