Stoat took on three rooks to protect young kits

A stoat has been caught on camera taking on three rooks in a fight at a wildlife center near Plymouth, Devon. The tiny mammal was seen repeatedly fighting off the huge, bemused birds at Wembury Marine Center.

It bravely confronted them time and again, even leaping from the ground at points in a bid to get to the much larger animals. Although it looks like the stoat is attacking the birds experts say it most probably displaying defensive behavior. A spokesman for Devon Wildlife Trust said: "Stoats on the south Devon coast will prey on small mammals mostly, rabbits and smaller rodent species.
"Although they do also sometimes prey on birds it's unlikely a stoat would go for a rook, never mind three of them. Stoats tend to use areas of thick vegetation as cover for hunting too, rather than the open area of this road. So it looks like this is defensive behavior. Those areas covered in thick vegetation are ideal habitat for small mammals and probably contain this stoat's den.

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"As it takes up to 10 months following mating in early summer for stoat kits to be born, then up to 12 weeks when the young are fed by their mother, the timing of this video is the sort of time the young stoats will be ready to go out hunting with the adults for the first time. This stoat is probably trying to chase the rooks away from the area where its young are about to emerge from their den."