Invasive mice are devouring albatrosses alive on a remote island in the Indian Ocean, so conservationists have come up with an explosive solution — “bombing” the mice.
Mice have been wreaking havoc on Marion Island, between South Africa and Antarctica, for decades. Humans accidentally introduced the mice in the 19th century, and the rodents have since developed a taste for wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) and other threatened seabirds.
The Mouse-Free Marion Project, a collaboration between the South African government and BirdLife South Africa, is trying to raise $29 million to drop 660 tons (600 metric tons) of rodenticide-laced pellets onto the island in winter 2027, AFP news agency reported on Saturday (Aug. 24).
The project plans to send a squad of helicopters to drop the pellets. By striking in winter when the mice are most hungry, the conservationists hope to eradicate the entire mouse population of up to 1 million individuals.
Birbs fly to remote islands!
Do you even know where Marion island is? It’s halfway between South Africa and Antarctica. I can assure you, no “Hawks, eagles, ospreyes or owls” are going to be able to reach or fly to Marion island. They don’t live there. The bird life that actually lives on the island mainly consists of endangered albatrosses and petrels, which are the birds being preyed on by the mice. Similar rodent eradication plans have been done on similar sized remote islands using the poison and helicopter approach, and have been successful with minimal environmental impact, because most of the birds that live on these remote islands don’t eat at land, they eat at sea. The brown skua is the major concern for eating poisoned mice, but their population should bouce back from the ill effects. It’s either do nothing and watch the rodents drive the birds to extinction by killing hundreds of thousands of birds a year according to the article (including 8 adult wandering albatrosses), or do something to try save them with a method that’s worked before.