Polecat (Mustela putorius)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > terrestrial mammal > Carnivorous mammal |
| Red List Status: | Least Concern (Not Relevant) [LC(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Mustela putorius |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Linnaeus, 1758 |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Mathews & Harrower, 2020 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | With the caveat that their current legal protection is still needed and should remain. Polecats are widespread in much of central, southern and eastern England, although their distribution in northern England is patchy. They are likely to continue expanding their range and re-colonising larger areas of England, however, are still vulnerable to several anthropogenic threats including road traffic mortality and capture in traps. Therefore, their current legal protection is still needed to reduce trapping mortality. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | Polecats are faring well in England and expanding their range without intervention. They are also fairly generalist in their habitat use. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | They would likely benefit from landscape-scale habitat improvements that would benefit their prey (e.g. rabbits, small rodents). |
Species Assessment
Not relevant as no Key Actions defined.
Key Actions
No Key Actions Defined
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.