We get asked this a lot. And while we often define stoats as the ‘perfect predator’, it turns out they’re just not that interested in killing or eating rats.
It’s thought stoats might’ve been originally released in New Zealand to control the populations of invasive species. Unfortunately, the plan backfired. There’s no evidence they helped with the country’s rat or rabbit populations at all. Instead, they are now implicated in the extinction of three native bird species and are largely blamed for the decline of the iconic kiwi bird. Oops.
We also have scientific evidence to prove stoats aren’t too bothered with the vermin. A UK study looked through 570 stoat stomachs and found signs of rat only twice (The diet of stoats (Mustela erminea) and weasels (Mustela nivalis) in Great Britain, 2000). The research is clear, stoats aren’t that interested in eating rats.
Even if stoats aren’t chasing down many rats, our trap boxes seem to attract a lot of them. We aren’t funded to specifically target rats, but we’ve still caught and removed more than 24-thousand from Orkney.
It’s no secret that rats and mice are a problem anywhere they turn up as an invasive non-native species, including Orkney. However, stoats pose a much greater threat to our native wildlife. They’re new invaders and are direct predators of vulnerable species. They also predate on Orkney voles (which rats and mice do not). If we didn’t act against the stoat population, we could end up in a similar situation to New Zealand.
If you've seen a stoat, report it to orkenynativewildlife.org.uk/report.
Header image by Nikolett Emmert.
