Stoat and rabbit

[jamie1976]

100 % sure it was a stoat and not a mink ,and also really sure it was no water vole just dirty filthy rats ,the mink is larger than the stoat it was a stoat for sure ,i no stoats will run from humans but to be fair it was in a fight

[helen253]

yes, my childhood stoat stood it's ground too...it let me get close enough to touch it....then attached itself to my thumb. could it have been defending it's babies?

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by helen253

yes, my childhood stoat stood it's ground too...it let me get close enough to touch it....then attached itself to my thumb. could it have been defending it's babies?

Possibly, it would also have seen you as a massive threat, these animals are fearless and often kill animals much larger, so do show alot of courage. You reaching out to touch it was a threatening move and it bit you to protect itself more than anyhing. A couple of years ago now i encountered a stoat that ran at me several times trying to intimidate me, i stood still it came rite upto my shoe, and eventually calmed down when it assesed my level of threat and left, quite an amazing encounter.

[helen253]

it hurt like hell at the time but i remember it fondly as a lesson well learned - just because it looks adorable, it still may have sharp teeth!

[ron1863]

Hello and a warm welcome. I watched something similar on TV the other night - a gardening programme about Prince Charles' country house, Highgate. David Attenburgh was the narrater and showed a 5 minute segment of a Stoat dragging a dead rabbit a few hundred yards back to it's burrow at the foot of a tree. It was fascinating as the rabbit weighed something like three times the weight of the stoat.