Elusive American mink makes appearance on Long Island, experts say

Long Island wildlife experts say an apparent American mink recorded on a trail camera in Northport earlier this month might be the first sighting of the elusive marine mammal in about 30 years.

The nocturnal, weasellike creature was recorded Aug. 4 by an overnight camera in a marsh, said Peter Janow, founder of the Huntington-area group Long Island Nature Corps.

Janow said he has used cameras to track wildlife, including river otters, as part of the Seatuck Environmental Association’s Long Island mammal survey. He said he had previously seen tracks in the snow believed to be a mink's, but this was the first time he said he has caught one on camera.

Long Island’s mink population was depleted, first by fur trappers desiring pelts for fur coats. The species remained present here as recently as the 1960s, experts said. The animals have largely vanished during the past 50 years, Janow said.

"This is truly one of those miraculous finds," Janow said. "We knew they were once here in greater numbers. The fact we were able to get these two good photographs and short video clip is concrete evidence we know they’re here and we have proof to show it."

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has not confirmed the sighting but said officials usually receive only a couple of mink sighting reports a year. But they typically don't have enough information to verify those reports, the department said.

The last documented sightings of mink on Long Island were in 1996 in Oyster Bay, said Mike Bottini, a wildlife biologist with the Seatuck Environmental Association.

Bottini, who has led a mammal survey since 2022, said there have been sightings of otters and skunks along Long Island shores, but mink have remained elusive. He said the last survey to record them, completed in 1971, found mink along the North and South shores.

Bottini said he is reviewing Janow’s footage, which appears to show the mink in wetlands off Northport.

"It’s still a shock to a lot of us," Bottini said. "It remains an unanswered question what happened to the minks on Long Island. It’s a real surprise for the Long Island mammal survey. It doesn’t appear to have a viable population on Long Island, and unlike the river otter, I don’t think the mink would be able to recolonize from off-Island populations."

Bottini said factors including development and possible rodent pesticides may have reduced the population. Conservationists unsuccessfully lobbied to ban trapping mink in 2011, Bottini said, but he said fur trapping has largely diminished. Many species, including mink and gray fox, were thought to be extirpated from Long Island.

"We didn’t expect mink to be so rare on Long Island," Bottini said. "There is obviously a resident mink in that area. The big question is what happened over the last 50 to 60 years. It’s a real mystery how it got here while otters are making a comeback."

The mink may have swum across water or stowed away to hitch a ride to Long Island, said Janine Bendicksen, wildlife rehabilitation director for Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown.

She said cleaner waters and changing ecosystems, such as broken dams, have allowed several species to return to Long Island, among them otters, skunks and a fledgling coyote population.

"The mink species was once very common to Long Island, but has not been spotted in my lifetime. They were just thought to be hunted to extinction, extirpated, not here anymore," Bendicksen said. "The fact one has been spotted is amazing."

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.