Breed and Release – did it work?

By Graham Wellstead.

There are today many creatures in the UK, and indeed, World Wide, that are in need of a concentrated scheme dedicated to try and reverse their decline. As a private individual I have done my best with the use of my time and money (unsupported) to try and make a difference with two, the Barn Owl, about which I have recently written and running almost concurrently; the Polecat.

Of all the Mustelidae family in the UK the European Polecat Mustela putorius, is almost certainly, the least popular.  Saddled with a derogatory expression, it’s not everyone’s favourite. “Stinks like a Polecat” I have often heard used by people who have never smelt one, but not a great deal different to its domesticated form, the ferret. A male ferret in the breeding season has a strong odour, and both sexes; and even 3-week-old babies, can and will, if frightened, give you the benefit of their scent glands. Ferrets, Mink, Stoats, Weasels Pine Martin’s and Polecats, all closely related, have scent glands and will use them in extremis, when feeling threatened. The best know stinker is their relative the Skunk. My Canadian born wife had memories of being skunked as a child, and having to have her plaited hair cut off. Many years on, the remedy (tomato juice) is still used. Having kept polecats and ferrets for many years, I hardly notice, but its handy to know if you ever get skunked! Seeking the nest of a Great-horned Owl while on a visit to Alberta, Canada I was told to follow my nose, as the owl fed its young on skunks.

The largest member of the family, the badger, often called Brock, is, along with the Otter, generally much loved by most people, evidenced by the furore when Badger culling is on the cards, and Otters are recovering since otter hunting was banned, although the extent at which they were hunting was never large, only nine packs existed, and the Hound is now one of the rarest dog breeds in the country. 

But who loves the Mink? 

Introduced by accident rather than design, the mink is a serious problem along our waterways, and a factor in the demise of the Water Vole. When I was a boy, it was as common as fleas on a dog in the river and its many streams that I explored. Only this week a friend saw a mink on the Basingstoke Canal in Surrey.

The other three, Pine Martin, Stoat and Weasel, are closest in size to the polecat.  Generally local in the case of the Martin with the stoat and Weasel widely distributed, and not currently in danger.  The Polecat however, is. Until recently when some expansion began to take place, it was restricted to the area around Tregaron Bog, nature reserve in West Wales.  I have my doubts about their expansion into the Welsh Matches and along the Welsh/English border, mainly because domestic ferrets, coloured similarly can be mistaken for their wild brethren. 

Following the disease Myxomatosis virtually wiping out wild rabbits, ferreting declined, but as they began to recover, with an increasing degree of immunity so too did ferreting and coloured ferrets rather than albino being used more frequently, and lost. It’s easy to see a white ferret in a hedge, but less so the polecat/ferret. They all have a tendancy to wander off un-noticed, often lost. Initially polecat ferrets were definitely lighter in build and colour, but in recent years colour breeding has expanded and we now have black ferrets and much darker forms than the norm.  I should mention there is a colour variant, other than albino, which was relatively unusual, the “Sandy”, light brown (Erythristic). This rarer exception is found both in the wild polecat and its domesticated cousin.

As the founder of the worlds first society for ferrets, The Ferret and Ferreting Society, I first tried to bring the animal into focus and improve its lot as a captive animal, often badly treated and poorly fed. The first ferret I presented to a Vet was examined from the other side of the room. Today they are number 5 in the list of animals dealt with by Veterinary Surgeons. I also like to believe that my Society has improved, not only their living conditions, their food, and their general care.

It was at this point that my attention was drawn to the polecat by a young friend studying for a zoology degree, carrying out a distribution survey. We worked together for some time, and followed up a claim by a ferret keeper in Kent, a long way from the study area, who claimed he had bought 3 true polecats.  We could not resist following up with a visit where, as expected, the buyer had been hoodwinked by some silver tongued rogue, with average coloured polecat/ferrets.

Before I could start a breed and release project, I had to obtain real wild polecats. In this I was aided by my full-time job, which took me frequently to West Wales. I made contact with dozens of Gamekeepers, and offered payment, for any wild caught polecat, live trapped. Dead animals served only to confirm they were there.  Because of their natural behaviour, most of the trapped animals were males, the ratio being in the region of 10 to 1. The males wander over large areas, while the females are much more territorial. But so as not to discourage the keepers, I paid for them, and then released them a distance away. It took about a year to have enough animals to set up the breeding programme. I really only needed three males, but kept four, and six females, but kept eight. Belt and braces! I also swapped animals from two sources, a zoo and a private breeder, to try and keep the blood lines open.

To keep track of the breeding stock, they all had Welsh names.  Brodwin, Myfanwy, Ceri, which I thought more fitting than a sterile number.

Initially even when the females were in oestrus, they often refused mating – to the extent that they fought off the attentions of the males. On more than one occasion I found the male sleeping at the far end of the cage, well away from the virago in the bedding area. Female Polecats and ferrets come into season in early spring, and stay in the condition often until late August. This presents health risks as their swollen sexual organs are close to the ground and if their quarters are not kept clean, they can fall foul of Pyometra a form of sepsis in the womb which kills them. With this in mind, ideally mating should take place as early as possible. The problem was simply resolved taking the females to the males, overcoming their territorial aggression. The gestation period is six weeks and the litter size average in seven, but only one a year. The babies are tiny about 1 ½” with ears and eyes closed, almost invisible. Fortunately, the tail shows which end is which. Pink and hairless, to begin with, they grow their fur in 3 to 4 weeks at which time the eyes open and their teeth erupt allowing them to eat meat.  At five weeks they are miniatures of their parents and beginning to explore. The mother rears the babies on her own. If the male is left with her, he is likely to eat them – though not always.

Once the young ones were independent of their mother it was time to consider their release. I had already laid the foundations for a successful release. Not too close to human habitation, well away from fast roads, checking the presence of a regular food supply, and importantly, other predators.  Much of the land where I released them was heathland. The extensive military firing ranges, of which there were several. The fear of unexploded ordinance kept the few visitors on well-worn paths and out of the heather, made them perfect. Plenty of food and little direct disturbance.

Most small carnivores and birds of prey in captivity are fed on day old chickens; cockerels of the light breeds which grow slowly and cost more in food than their value as meat. Sex liked by colour. Brown for girls and yellow for boys, making identification instant. They are gassed, frozen and used as animal food. This of course does not in any way mirror the polecat’s natural diet, and to do so I fed as much fresh road kill as I could find, rabbit, pigeon, pheasant, squirrel, small birds.  When I was in my early teens, meat was on the ration and the only way I could fed the birds of prey and mammals in my care, was to sit on a farm gate beside a country road and wait for something to get run over. My favourite spot at the time was close to a pheasant shoot on the adjoining land and many pheasants came my way. My father was heard to say “That boy will turn into a vulture before long!” The hope was the animal or bird was killed by the blow, rather than squashed, which reduced the usable amount.

It is important when releasing captive bred animals to keep human contact to the minimum, and although it is difficult to mimic the conditions they will encounter, an attempt must be made. To do this, there were occasions where I was able to make a pre-release enclosure, for which the animals could be slow released, filtering out naturally.  With high summer and plenty of understory cover, such as bracken and a thick hedgerow, this system worked very well. I would continue to drop off food and monitor its uptake. Often this involved several weeks.  It was not unusual to lose contact, as the animals melted into their environment, but sightings, and evidence of breeding, plus one road kill six years on, gave me the indications of probable success. I also considered live trapping to gain confirmation, taking comfort in comparing sightings of their wild relatives, counted on the fingers of one hand, I decided not to.

Over a period of four years, I bred and released 134 polecats, from 4 litters in each of the first three years and six in the final year. In that last year I also released all the wild caught adults.  I reluctantly ended the project as my job took me overseas for much of my time.

The European Pole is a beautiful, agile, and for me, handling them over the years, an entertaining creature, which deserves support. I retained a small number of the babies, taking them at a stage when their eyes were closed and hand-rearing them. Initially this formed a backup of wild blood, but very tame, and I kept them until they died.

A satisfying conclusion. 

Did the release programme work? 

I believe it did.

By Graham Wellstead