The European Mink (Mustela lutreola) was once common across much of Europe, living along rivers, wetlands, and forest streams. Today, it’s one of the continent’s most endangered mammals. Current estimates suggest fewer than 5,000 individuals remain in the wild, with most surviving in small, isolated populations in Spain, France, Romania, and parts of Eastern Europe. In many countries, it has already gone extinct.

The biggest threat isn’t just habitat loss it’s competition from the introduced American mink, which outcompetes the native species for food and territory. Add pollution, river modification, and fragmentation, and the European mink has been pushed to the edge. It’s a quiet, semi-aquatic predator that depends on clean waterways. As rivers change, it disappears often without anyone noticing. A native species fading from an entire continent.

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