A mink breeding center at the Calviac Zoo in southern France has been named after Estonian zoologist and MP Tiit Maran.
Calviac Zoo, east of Bordeaux, is a community zoo that mainly focuses on nature conservation, Maran said.
"Usually, such things happen posthumously, after death, not to someone who is still alive," the Riigikogu member laughed when speaking to ETV's "Ringvaade."
"At one point, the director of Calviac Zoo told me that they were getting a new breeding center and that they would very much like me to come to the opening. He then added that there was another twist to the whole thing: the center would bear my name," he described.
"I couldn't really say no, and so this rather strange thing happened: last week, I gave a speech at a mink breeding center named after myself," Maran said.
Mink breeding began at Estonia's Tallinn Zoo. "The first centers outside Tallinn were established in Spain, where there are three centers housing around 100 animals. France has two centers to preserve the genetic pool and also release animals into the wild, because unfortunately the European mink is in a poor situation everywhere. In France, there may be around 100 animals in the wild, in Spain around 200, and on Hiiumaa there are perhaps 100 animals this fall," the zoologist explained.
The European mink disappeared from the wild because of the highly invasive American mink. American mink are now continuously trapped to remove them from the wild.
"The American mink is larger, stronger, more aggressive, makes better use of its habitats and has significantly greater reproductive potential. It is said that the American mink is among the 10 most invasive alien species in Europe," Maran said.
The American mink arrived in Estonia because mink fur coats were very popular for a time. "Fur farms were established, and the animals escaped from those farms into the wild. Those farms have now been closed, partly thanks to COVID, so the risk is no longer there, but the animal is still present in the wild," he noted.
According to Maran, Calviac Zoo is a community zoo. "The director himself was a student of Gerald Durrell and wanted to create a similarly impressive zoo that would focus primarily on nature conservation. He succeeded, and the zoo is so important to the community that local people support it and help get things done there," he said.
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