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Letter2019Peer reviewed

The status of the Dutch polecat population: correction of a recently published error

Hofmeester, Tim R.; Dijkstra, Vilmar; Dekker, Jasja J. A.; van der Meij, Tom; Broekhuizen, Sim

Abstract

A recent review of the status of the Western or European polecat (Mustela putorius) by Croose et al. (Croose, E., J.W. Duckworth, S. Ruette, D.V. Skumatov, V.V. Kolesnikov and A.P. Saveljev. 2018. A review of the status of the Western polecat Mustela putorius: a neglected and declining species? Mammalia. 82: 550-564.) showed that the species is declining over large parts of its range. The information on the Dutch population in this review was based on incorrect information in the Atlas of the Dutch Mammals. Here, we correct this information and state that we currently have insufficient data to make inference about the Dutch polecat population. Consequently, there is a need for a robust monitoring scheme for polecats in the Netherlands.

Keywords

correction; Mustela putorius; population status; population trend

Published in

Mammalia
2019, Volume: 83, number: 5, pages: 453-454
Publisher: WALTER DE GRUYTER GMBH