CONNEMARA HILL farmers have warned that their livelihood is at serious risk due to the large number of lambs being injured and killed in mink attacks.
Mary Lacey, secretary of the Irish Farmers’ Association’s (IFA) Connemara branch, said that her farm and that of several neighbours has been hit by mink attacks for a third year in a row, with older lambs now being targeted by the predators.
“In the first year, they attacked lambs up to a week or two old, but now they will attack lambs that are up to three- and four-months old and weighing up to 35kg,’’ she said. “They savage the lambs all around the head, under the neck, the ears and they bore into the middle of their forehead,’’ she told The Irish Times. “On one night in May, they killed 20 lambs.”
“We are close to two rivers and the sea, and so we believe the mink travel here by water. We have lost hares and rabbits, and we are even concerned about our dogs and our children – as they have been known to attack both,’’ she said.
Farmers and fish farmers have claimed that mink have escaped from farms.
The Department of the Environment said yesterday that local gun clubs may be asked to assist if mink are posing a threat to ground nesting birds.