VIDEO Caught it!A wildlife-loving Ipswich family are relieved today after they captured the mink terrorising guinea pigs and frogs in their back garden.

CAUGHT it!

A wildlife-loving Ipswich family are relieved today after they captured the mink terrorising guinea pigs and frogs in their back garden.

Now the Atkins family, of Philip Road, of Belstead Road, are hoping to stuff the vicious creature once it has been humanely killed as a reminder of their victory.

Ros Atkins, 49, said: “The first time I saw it I was sitting outside and I noticed a little face pop from under the shed.

“Then a few days later I was out and saw it again and I realised it was a mink.

“I used to have eight girl guinea pigs and two boys but now there are only six girls left, and the frog population in the garden has been destroyed.

“As soon as I saw the mink I knew that had been the culprit.”

So Mrs Atkins sought out a humane trap and used a smelly mixture of sardines and cat food to lure the mammal into the trap where she and her sons, Nils, 11, and David, nine, found it caged on Saturday.

“I was jumping up and down with delight,” she said.

“These animals destroy wildlife and are a huge problem. They look cute but they will kill small mammals. When it yawns you can see its massive teeth.

“I love wildlife and am a member of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, but for other animals' sake it is better to kill the mink.”

She said she planned to have it shot in the head and had already contacted a taxidermist to ask about having it stuffed so she could keep it as a trophy.

Have you caught an animal terrorising your garden? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.

Mink

Mink found in Britain are descendants of animals that originally escaped from fur farms - some after being set free by animal rights campaigners.

The species is native to North America, however, following successful breeding in the wild, mink are now established throughout England and Wales.

In the wild they damage wildlife, fisheries and game and domestic birds.

In size and shape, they resemble ferrets.

Mink are mainly nocturnal but individuals are sometimes active during the day, particularly in very cold weather.

Mink swim well and they can climb trees easily.

Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to release a trapped mink, so all mink caught must be killed humanely.

SOURCE: DEFRA