The country of South Africa is planning to bomb its Marion Island, a remote island around 2,000 kilometres southeast of Cape Town.....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
The country has been thinking of taking such a drastic action because an unnerving drama is unfolding on the island, which is, the seabirds, especially albatrosses, falling prey to mice.
The country has come up with the world’s most pivotal bird conservation effort, which is the Mouse-Free Marion Project.
As part of the project, helicopters will be deployed to disperse (or bomb) 600 tonnes of rodenticide-laced pellets across the island.
The project has till now not been funded and a quarter of the $29 million, which is needed, has been raised.
The plan is to strike mice in winter 2027, when they are most famished and the summer-breeding birds are gone.
The operation will only be successful when every inch of the 25-kilometre-long and 17-kilometre-wide island gets covered.
“We have to get rid of every last mouse. If there was a male and female remaining, they could breed and eventually get back to where we are now,” said Anderson.
What is happening between mice and seabirds on Marion Island?
Marion Island is a nesting ground for various seabirds, including the albatross. But now they are under threat as hordes of mice are preying on them and eating their eggs, as confirmed by conservationist Mark Anderson in a meeting of BirdLife South Africa.
“These mice, for the first time last year, were found to be feeding on adult Wandering Albatrosses,” said Anderson, who is the CEO of BirdLife South Africa.
According to the Mouse-Free Marion Project, among the 29 species of seabirds on the island, 19 are facing the threat of local extinction.
“Mice just climb onto them and slowly eat them until they succumb,” Anderson said. “We are losing hundreds of thousands of seabirds every year through the mice,” he added…CONTINUE READING>>
