Aug 30, 2024 12:30:00

Project launched to eradicate invasive rats that eat birds alive by 'bombing' them, conservationists say

An animal protection group has announced a plan to eradicate rats on

Marion Island in the Indian Ocean by dropping large amounts of rat poison from the air to stop the rats, introduced by humans, preying on seabirds.

About the Project - Mouse-Free Marion
https://mousefreemarion.org/ja/%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B8%E3%82%A7%E3%82%AF%E3%83%88%E3%81%AB%E3%81%A4%E3%81%84%E3%81%A6/

Mice on remote island that eat albatross alive sentenced to death by 'bombing,' scientists decree | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/animals/birds/mice-on-remote-island-that-eat-albatrosses-alive-sentenced-to-death-by-bombing-scientists-decree

S.Africa plan to 'bomb' mice that eat albatrosses alive
https://phys.org/news/2024-08-safrica-mice-albatrosses-alive.html

According to the Mouse-Free Marion Project, a joint project between the South African government and bird conservation group BirdLife South Africa, Marion Island is inhabited by rats believed to have been brought there by humans in the early 19th century, and they began to attack seabirds during the winter when food was scarce.


Seabirds, which evolved in an environment without terrestrial predators, are literally 'easy targets' - at the expense of many precious bird species, including the wandering albatross, a quarter of the world's total population of which nests on islands in the Indian Ocean.

Until now, rats have mainly targeted eggs and baby birds, but their attacks have escalated year by year, and they have finally begun to prey on adult birds.

'In 2023, rats were spotted preying on adult wandering albatrosses for the first time,' project leader Mark Anderson said at a BirdLife South Africa meeting. 'The rats climb onto the seabirds and devour them slowly, sometimes taking days to kill the bird. Rats kill hundreds of thousands of seabirds every year.'

To stem the escalating damage, the Mouse-Free Marion Project has launched a $29 million fundraising drive to drop 660 tons of rodenticide pellets on Marion Island in the winter of 2027, and is already a quarter of its goal.

The rodenticide will be dropped by helicopter, and the poison bait will be spread evenly over the entire island, which is 25 km long and 17 km wide. The bait will be chosen to be harmless to invertebrates, and because seabirds feed in the sea, it is believed that there will be no impact on any other creatures besides rats.

Marion Island has a gruesome history. Five cats were introduced to the island in 1948 to reduce the rat population, but the cats quickly multiplied to 2,000. Instead of eradicating the rats, they started killing as many as 450,000 birds each year. So in 1991, the last cat was removed as part of a cat eradication project.

'We need to get rid of every last rat because if there are males and females left, they will breed and bring the population back to normal,' Anderson said.

The project also accepts donations from individuals.

Donate any amount - Mouse-Free Marion