Last month a local business had to move a piece of heavy machinery that had been sitting all winter on a work site near the Missouri river in northeast Omaha. When they did, a mother mink ran out, leaving behind her three babies that were only a few days old. It was a blustery, rainy day, but one of the workers knew he needed to give the mother a chance to reclaim her young, so he put them in a container and left them near the original den site, making sure they stayed warm. The kind worker did exactly the right thing, but unfortunately the mother didn't return the entire day, likely due to all the human commotion and noise on the work site. Because the day was so cold and wet, the minks' rescuer knew he couldn't leave them on the construction site overnight, and had no choice but to take the babies home with him when he left for the day. He immediately called NWRI and transferred them to us so that they could receive the care they needed.
Over the past three weeks, they have more than quadrupled in weight and are beginning to look more like mink than they did when they first arrived. They are getting very close to opening their eyes (mink open their eyes at 3 1/2 to four weeks of age) and will be transitioned off of formula and over to solid food within a few weeks after that. We are working on designing and building a wilding cage specifically for mink, as they can escape from most of our traditional caging. They'll need to spend time in this cage to acclimate to the outdoors, so we expect to have them for a few months as they learn to hunt, swim, and make their way in the wild!
Just look at these tiny things. What a privilege to care for them, and what a responsibility to do it right!
Would you like to help us care for these fuzzy little mink? Every donated dollar goes directly to food in these creatures' bellies and the wilding cages we build for them. Help us help animals here!
We'll be back with updates....thanks for all you do!
they are so precious!
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