Three percent of Earthâs land mass is comprised of islands, but 95 percent of all bird extinctions have occurred on them. Main cause: Mice and rats introduced by humans.
Only 10 percent of the worldâs islands are rodent-free, but a rodenticide called brodifacoum is changing that. On hundreds of treated islands recovery of native plants and wildlife has been swift and spectacular.
Consider rugged, 1,450-square-mile South Georgia Island in the Subantarctic. Before mice and rats disembarked from whaling vessels, it had been Earthâs richest seabird rookery. For three years, itâs been rodent free thanks to a $13.5 million project in which brodifacoum was applied by helicopters. All 33 bird species are surging back. South Georgia pipits, for example, had been virtually eliminated; now their vocalizing drowns out the roaring of elephant seals.
Sometimes poison is the only thing that works
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Writers on the Range: Sometimes, poison is the only thing that works
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Ted Williams
Three percent of Earth’s land mass is comprised of islands, but 95 percent of all bird extinctions have occurred on them. Main cause: Mice and rats introduced by humans.
Only 10 percent of the world’s islands are rodent-free, but a rodenticide called brodifacoum is changing that. On hundreds of treated islands, recovery of native plants and wildlife has been swift and spectacular.
Consider rugged, 1,450-square-mile South Georgia Island in the Subantarctic. Before mice and rats disembarked from whaling vessels it had been Earth’s richest seabird rookery.
For three years it’s been rodent free thanks to a $13.5 million project in which brodifacoum was applied by helicopters. All 33 bird species are surging back. South Georgia pipits, for example, had been virtually eliminated; now their vocalizing drowns out the roaring of elephant seals.