Abstract/Summary

With the increase of public awareness and involvement in conservational projects, flagship species have become a common tool to appeal to people's motivations. Yet, the effectiveness of these species depends on a proper communication of their conservational importance. Using two projects aiming to control the invasive species American mink, I illustrate how communication can positively or negatively impact on succeeding at involving the public; and consequently on the projects. The Scottish mink initiative project managed to increase the number of volunteers involved by selecting flagship species and their communication adapted to the public needs. Meanwhile, in the Spanish project, while no volunteers are yet involved, there has been an increase of public awareness via using the European mink as native flagship species. However, as its nativeness reaming unconfirmed I suggest there is a high risk of potential miss-communication with the public that can negatively impact on their perception.