Wildlife boom expected after eradication of 30,000 rats on Pacific island

Aerial view of Palmyra Atoll. Copyright Island Conservation. Photo Erik Oberg

Unexpected positive results already being recorded
January 2013. Wildlife numbers are expected to rebound at Palmyra Atoll, a 580-acre collection of islets located about 1,000 miles south of Hawaii, that has been given a rat-free bill of health one year after about 30,000 rats were eradicated as part of a major effort to remove these invasive predators, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and Island Conservation (IC) announced.

Removing non-native rats was the top priority for the Palmyra Atoll Restoration Project, a multi-year effort to protect 10 nesting seabird species, migratory shorebirds, coconut crabs, and one of the largest, last remaining native Pisonia grandis forests (a rare flowering tree in the Bougainvillea family) in the tropical Pacific.

Read on...