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That tamed mink is absolutely relaxed. Such an animal would likely serve as an excellent pet, but the regulatory and cultural obstacles are almost certainly insurmountable.

Even genetic evolution moves faster than our regulatory system!

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Might be other problems though with a tame but undomesticated animal. Do they smell bad? Can they control their bladders etc? Carry pests or other undesirable bacteria etc?

I think the only problem would be finding a vet who knows the species and getting vaccinations.

Outside of dogs and cats, vaccinations are likely off label anyways. A vet would say "This mink is 4kg, I'll give it the dosing for a 4kg cat."

Feral mink are a serious threat to other, more endangered species of small animal: http://www.scotsman.com/news/invasive-mink-killing-native-wi...

Are feral dogs and cats not, though? I.e., we accept the risk of pet cats and dogs escaping into the wild and reproducing, and they are quite savage hunters when they need to be (cats, IIRC, even kill just for sport).

Not to the same extent, it seems - although probably that's because people have been drilled into neutering their pets for decades. Some places do have feral dog problems. The Scottish Wildcat is also threatened by interbreeding with domestic cats - an unusual form of extinction where it simply becomes indistinguishable as a species.

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