Some alien species have a slightly stranger story than others. The European starling has now spread to the four winds in North America after Eugene Schieffelin
put it out in Central Park in 1890. The reason: Schieffelin believed that all birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s works should exist in the United States. Photo: Espen
Bergersen – NaturGalleriet.no
About the Norwegian Black List :
• Alien species are species that have spread
from the biogeographic region where
it belongs to a different biogeographic
region, with human help. This spread may
have been intentional or accidental.
• NBIC has documented 2,320 alien species
in Norway. About half are not able to
reproduce in this country and thus have
not been risk assessed. However, 217
qualify as such a high ecological risk that
they have been put on the Black List. Only
species that have been introduced since
1800 are included in the list.
• The Black List consists of the alien species
that are considered to pose a “very high
risk” or a “high risk” for Norwegian ecolog-
ical systems.
• Alien species are particularly assessed
using two criteria: the extent of the nega-
tive consequences they have for domestic
species and habitats, and their ability to
multiply.
• NBIC updates the Black List about every
five years. The latest version was released
in 2012.
Norway, I feel that many people think that we
have so much nature around us, that manage-
ment is superfluous. But we need to remember
that prevention is easier than fixing things
later,” she says.
Happy ending
So, the little bird killer, LiamMink Jagger, could
not be released into the wild again, but putting
down such a sweetheart was not tempting
either.
After a collective brainstorming session, the
solution was the Polar Zoo. They agreed to give
the mink a home, if the Norwegian Environ-
ment Agency approved the application. When
the application was rejected, the mood was
gloomy indeed.
But the mink had already been in the news-
paper several times and had become something
of a media favourite. Within a few days, a peti-
tion received over 7,000 signatures, and the
Norwegian Environment Agency was quick to
change its mind after receiving a written com-
plaint about their decision. This was on the
condition that the issues surrounding the spec
ies would be presented at the zoo and that the
mink had to be castrated. It was only then that it
was discovered that the mink actually was a girl,
and she was quickly renamed Lina Mink Jagger.
“The Norwegian Society for Protection of
Animals is incredibly excited that the tame and
social mink Lina has been given the opportunity
to live at the Polar Zoo. To achieve this, how-
ever, we are entirely dependent on donations
to get the remaining NOK 50,000–65,000 to
build a large, scenic enclosure where the mink
can also swim around this spring,” says the
head of the Norwegian Society for Protection
of Animals Tromsø, Cecilie Johansen, who has
initiated a fund drive.
Want to help?
Jenny Stien would love to hear from hunters who
have experience with mink. To take part in the
survey, please visit
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