The stoat is a small slender carnivorous mammal native to Britain. It is larger than the weasel, with a black-tipped tail. In winter some animals may turn completely white apart from the tail tip. The stoat's main prey is the rabbit, and numbers of stoats declined drastically when myxomatosis devastated the British rabbit population in the 1950s and 1960s. The stoat also commonly eats gamebirds, waders, eggs and chicks. It may be culled throughout the year.