Sub-Antarctic pest eradication to save Macquarie Island
Australia is planning the world’s biggest pest eradication programme
on the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, where thousands of mice and
rabbits are damaging the world-heritage island.
The pests are causing so much environmental damage that native flora
and fauna, including species of seals, penguins and sea birds, are at
risk, Australian wildlife officials say.
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Macquarie Island. AFP |
The eradication exercise will involve aerial baiting and about 12
hunters and 11 dogs. It is due to start in May 2010.
“It will be the largest eradication worldwide for rabbits, rats or
mice,” said Keith Springer, eradication manager with the Parks and
Wildlife Services in Australia’s Tasmania state.
Australia’s Macquarie Island lies about half way between New Zealand
and Antarctica, where the cold polar water meets warmer water, and is
one of the few islands in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean where
fauna in the region can breed. The long, thin island is a breeding place
for millions of seabirds, mostly penguins. Seals, including the world’s
largest species, the elephant seal, haul out on the beaches for
breeding.
Around 80,000 elephant seals arrive on Macquarie each year.
Fur seals are beginning to re-establish populations on the island
after being nearly exterminated by commercial operations in the early
19th century.
The A$24 million ($22 million) eradication project will require about
300 tonnes of poisonous bait being scattered over the island.
But the key to success will be the delivery of fresh bait using large
storage containers that can transport the bait and keep it protected
from weather, condensation and pests.
Six English Springer spaniels are being trained to detect rabbits,
but ignore penguins, seals and seabirds.
Two of the spaniels, Ash and Gus, travelled to the island in late
October 2009 for training in the conditions they will face on the island
during winter 2010.
“The two dogs performed really well on Macquarie but were a bit
overwhelmed by the number of rabbits at first, they didn’t know which
scent to follow first,” said Springer.
Insulated kennels have been built to ensure the dogs can withstand
Macquarie’s extreme oceanic climate with heavy cloud, strong westerly
winds and a rainfall of 900 mm a year.
“The dog kennels are made out of 44 gallon drum on its side with an
insulated floor and a weather proof dog flap at the entry and a tiny
little porch out the front,” said Marty Passingham who is now at
Commonwealth Bay as part of an expedition to restore Australian
Antarctic explorer Sir Dougas Mawson’s huts.
“In May, the conditions for the dogs will be cold, wet and snowy.”
Rabbits were introduced to Macquarie by seal hunters as a source of
food around 1878. It is believed there are between 60-100,000 rabbits
currently on the island, which is located 1,500 kms (930 miles)
southeast of Hobart, Tasmania.
Cats were also brought to the island by seafarers to stop mice eating
food stores, but their population also exploded.
The cats kept the mice and rabbit populations down, but also killed
tens of thousands of seabirds.
A cat eradication programme on Macquarie started in 1985 with the
last cat killed in 2000.
But when the cats died, rabbit numbers increased rapidly and have now
altered large areas of island vegetation.
REUTERS |
