SLAUGHTERING mink could be the answer to saving Yorkshire's declining water vole population.

The water vole, which became famous as Ratty in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind In The Willows, has suffered a dramatic decline since its predator, the American Mink, arrived in the area.

But the endangered mammal, which is found throughout North and East Yorkshire, including at Goodmanham, near Market Weighton, Cawood, near Selby, and Clifton Ings, near York, could be saved by culling mink.

Phil Lyth, of North Yorkshire Farm Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), said that some landowners in North Yorkshire were controlling mink, which were brought to Britain in 1929 for the fur trade, by putting cage traps on their land.

And conservationists believe a large-scale cull could be the best way to stop the water vole becoming extinct.

The mink, which also feeds on rabbits, frogs, birds and fish, established itself as part of Yorkshire's wildlife when large numbers escaped from fur farms.

The Environment Agency allows farmers to catch mink with traps and kill them with a clean shot to their heads.

But a spokesman from the agency said that while they endorsed projects involved in mink-culling to help save the water vole, they did not encourage landowners to kill mink in areas without the endangered mammal.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has launched a water vole recovery project in the Holderness plain, which surrounds the River Hull and includes Market Weighton.

Water vole project officer Jon Traill is carrying out surveys of water voles in the area. He is working with landowners to help them create a better environment for the rodent, which is often confused with the brown rat, including in some cases advising them to kill mink.

Roger Martin, a conservation officer with the Environment Agency, said that Yorkshire's population of water voles had plummeted by 97 per cent between 1990 and 1998. The agency is waiting to hear if the Government is prepared to fund a multi-million project to strategically cull mink throughout the UK, including North and East Yorkshire.

Mr Martin said: "It is really a case of kill the mink or face losing the water vole forever."

Updated: 08:20 Friday, March 07, 2003