Evaluation of the Bionic trap to quickly kill mink (Mustela vison) in simulated natural environments

The Bionic trap, with a bait placed at the back of a 6 cm aperture plastic cone, successfully killed nine of nine wild mink (Mustela vison) in simulated natural conditions. The average times to loss of consciousness and heartbeat were estimated at less than 60 (+/- 26) sec and 340 (+/- 55) sec, respectively, after firing the trap. This study confirmed that the Bionic trap can be expected to render greater than 79% of captured mink unconscious in less than or equal to 3 min (P less than 0.05).