Cottage Q&A
QUESTION
We have a little fellow (a.k.a. Mr. Mink) who lives along our shoreline. He has become a concern because our two Labrador retrievers seem bound and determined to confront him. Should we be worried about our dogs or children? Should we have him trapped and removed?
ANSWER
What you should remove for a time out are the two dogs, says Chris Heydon, a fur program biologist for the Ministry of Natural Resources. It’s actually against the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act of Ontario to let your dogs run at large in the woods or along your shoreline for the very reason that they’ll harass the wildlife, often disrupting breeding or rearing of young. Heydon says that doesn’t mean tying your dogs to the deck on a short leash. But teach them to come when they’re called, check up on them frequently, and bring them inside if they’re making life miserable for a wild critter. Other reasons to keep your pets under your control are that they could become lost, bring home nasty diseases such as rabies, or get themselves injured. (Sadly, pet owners sometimes discover the hard way that there is a trapline in their area, says Heydon.)
As for Mr. Mink, congratulations on having him around. Heydon says minks are biosentinels, indicating by their presence that you have a diversity-rich shoreline. And while these little carnivorous members of the weasel family are vicious predators if you happen to be a muskrat, they have no predilection for battle with anything as big as a kid or a dog. So cut the little guy some slack, okay?
Christine Langlois
* Published in the September/October 2007 issue of
Cottage Life
