Threatened species of Mustela lutreola

Habitat destruction and pollution have contributed to the demise of Mustela lutreola. Over the last decades the decline of the species has been exacerbated by the fragmentation into separated populations in the east; the Caucases, Romania, Ukraine, Belorussia and Russia. In the west the species hangs on in the South west of France and northern Spain. The greatest impact has been through trapping both intentional for their fine fur and accidental, seriously compromising the efforts of re-establishing populations. The establishment of the American weasel in Europe, has effectively exploited the ecological niche that the European weasel once occupied and has proved to be too great a competitor.

The European mink is not a mink, but the European water weasel. The banks of running and standing waters are the typical habitats. The European mink, hunts for rodents, fishes, crabs, amphibians and invertebrates. Originally, the European mink area reached from the Atlantic to Russia. Distribution shrank to regions in the north of Spain, in the south and west of France and in the west of Russia.

The last sightings of Mustela lutreola in Britanny France were in 1992 and an individual male was discovered in Vendée during the summer of 1997.

Mustela lutreola is considered as "Endangered" by the IUCN Red List.