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.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all the volunteers who have reported their sightings within the Dutch Common Breeding Bird Monitoring Scheme and two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions that improved this manuscript.
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